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Hi all, apologies if this turns into a long post - I've a bit of a dilemma!
I work as a mortgage adviser for a national brokerage. As is common in the financial services industry, I work on a self-employed basis, in that I don't have an "employment contract", but I have a "contract for services". It also means my employer (it's easier to use that term!) doesn't have to deduct tax, ni etc. I receive a percentage of any fees, commission etc.
So that's the background - now, I have been offered a PROPER job (salary, paid holidays, pension etc - yay!) so I need to give notice to my employer, and the contract says I need to give 4 weeks notice.
The contract also says that "upon termination of the contract, no further payments of commission will be made", so my first question is this - does the contract terminate when I hand in my notice, or does it terminate after the 4 weeks notice period has expired? My employer ha s a history of being unreasonable (to say the least), and the last guy who left was told to hand his files over & leave - and wasn't paid a penny during the 4 weeks.
So my dilemma is this - If I resign and give 4 weeks notice, it's likely I won't actually get paid anything so I'll go a month with no income which I can't afford to do.
Alternatively, I wait until a week or two before I'm due to start my new job, then hand in my notice. In theory, I don't HAVE to work my notice period, as I could say I'm taking the next 1 or 2 weeks as holiday (I don' have to ask permission to take holidays) but this is messy.
My second issue revolves around a situation quite common in this industry - When I started with the company, they paid me £1500 up front for the first 4 months until commission started coming in. This finance was then SUPPOSED to be repaid at £750 a month over the next 8 months, but as business has been quiet they have been very flexible with allowing me to repay the finance. I currently owe around £3500. The contract states that "upon termination of the contract, any outstanding finance has to be repaid immediately". Due to my wife's recent redundancy, I'm not in a position to pay anything like that. HOWEVER, I currently have a "pipeline" of around £20,000 in commission which is due to be paid out over the next 4-6 months.
Lets assume 25% of that business falls through, so there's £15k in the pipeline, of which I should be due my share (50%) = £7,500. Question 2 - Is it unreasonable that I suggest that the balance of the finance is paid from my share of the pipeline income that will come in over the next few months?
When I leave, that will just end up in their pocket anyway so it seems unfair that they are making more money, yet not applying it to the debt. If it really comes to it, I could offer to a pay a reasonable and fair amount, e.g. £200 a month, and I'd be happy to sign an agreement to that effect.
I'll finish there, but I hope someone could shed some light on this from a legal perspective. I believe the courts use a system of reasonable behaviour, and common sense so I'm hoping that can be applied in my situation, but I don't know whether my employer will act in that manner.
One last thought (grasping at straws!) - If I give 4 weeks notice, but my employer tells me to hand over my files, and shows me the door AND doesn't pay me anything during the 4 weeks notice period, would that mean they have breached the contract, and subsequently could I tell them to stick their £3,500 where the sun don't shine!!??!!!
Thanks in advance to anyone who made it this far - and I look forward to thoughts and opinions.
Cheers
BL
I work as a mortgage adviser for a national brokerage. As is common in the financial services industry, I work on a self-employed basis, in that I don't have an "employment contract", but I have a "contract for services". It also means my employer (it's easier to use that term!) doesn't have to deduct tax, ni etc. I receive a percentage of any fees, commission etc.
So that's the background - now, I have been offered a PROPER job (salary, paid holidays, pension etc - yay!) so I need to give notice to my employer, and the contract says I need to give 4 weeks notice.
The contract also says that "upon termination of the contract, no further payments of commission will be made", so my first question is this - does the contract terminate when I hand in my notice, or does it terminate after the 4 weeks notice period has expired? My employer ha s a history of being unreasonable (to say the least), and the last guy who left was told to hand his files over & leave - and wasn't paid a penny during the 4 weeks.
So my dilemma is this - If I resign and give 4 weeks notice, it's likely I won't actually get paid anything so I'll go a month with no income which I can't afford to do.
Alternatively, I wait until a week or two before I'm due to start my new job, then hand in my notice. In theory, I don't HAVE to work my notice period, as I could say I'm taking the next 1 or 2 weeks as holiday (I don' have to ask permission to take holidays) but this is messy.
My second issue revolves around a situation quite common in this industry - When I started with the company, they paid me £1500 up front for the first 4 months until commission started coming in. This finance was then SUPPOSED to be repaid at £750 a month over the next 8 months, but as business has been quiet they have been very flexible with allowing me to repay the finance. I currently owe around £3500. The contract states that "upon termination of the contract, any outstanding finance has to be repaid immediately". Due to my wife's recent redundancy, I'm not in a position to pay anything like that. HOWEVER, I currently have a "pipeline" of around £20,000 in commission which is due to be paid out over the next 4-6 months.
Lets assume 25% of that business falls through, so there's £15k in the pipeline, of which I should be due my share (50%) = £7,500. Question 2 - Is it unreasonable that I suggest that the balance of the finance is paid from my share of the pipeline income that will come in over the next few months?
When I leave, that will just end up in their pocket anyway so it seems unfair that they are making more money, yet not applying it to the debt. If it really comes to it, I could offer to a pay a reasonable and fair amount, e.g. £200 a month, and I'd be happy to sign an agreement to that effect.
I'll finish there, but I hope someone could shed some light on this from a legal perspective. I believe the courts use a system of reasonable behaviour, and common sense so I'm hoping that can be applied in my situation, but I don't know whether my employer will act in that manner.
One last thought (grasping at straws!) - If I give 4 weeks notice, but my employer tells me to hand over my files, and shows me the door AND doesn't pay me anything during the 4 weeks notice period, would that mean they have breached the contract, and subsequently could I tell them to stick their £3,500 where the sun don't shine!!??!!!
Thanks in advance to anyone who made it this far - and I look forward to thoughts and opinions.
Cheers
BL
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