Back in October I received a letter from a previous employers solicitor 
claiming I owe them for the sum I would normally have been paid should I 
have worked the obligatory one week notice.

I worked with the company from April till September, walked out deciding 
I'd had enough of it, enough of the stress, the smoking, just the whole 
thing the job was doing to me, no medical notes from doc saying I was 
stressed as a day later knowing I was NEVER going to work there again I 
felt great!

I replied to them, as per legal advice that I was never made aware of a 
notice period, no contract or statement of particulars was EVER issued 
to me. And that they owed me holiday pay and 3 days pay that I worked 
since recieving the last salary payment - that I would counterclaim for 
such monies should they pursue legal action.

I also as instructed by legal advisor raised grievance with the company 
(within 3 months) for the money not paid to me.

They've now, a month later come back with the following:


Re: Company

We refer to your letter of 14th October.

You have misunderstood our earlier letter of the 10th October, namely 
that the obligation to give notice is contained in a statutory 
provision. Whether or not you were aware of that provision is 
irrelevant. That provision implies an obligation on your part to give at 
least one week's notice. Accordingly, our clients will proceed with 
their claim.

There was no agreement with regard to holiday and therefore no basis 
upon which you can make a claim.

Our clients' claim will be issued within the course of the next few days 
and will include a claim for interests and costs. This can be avoided if 
payment of the sum claimed of £411.50 is paid within the next 7 days.

Yours faithfully,

Solicitors


What's my best course of action? Bin it and forget it, or what....? I'd 
quite happily walk away with nothing so long as they get nothing from 
me. But do they owe me holiday pay by law??

On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:46:36 GMT, Kontaminator
 wrote:

> But do they owe me holiday pay by law??

It is my understanding that in general: yes; but whether they owe you in
particular any will depend on how long you worked and whether you took off
any paid bank holidays, which would count towards your entitlement.

For best quality answers get paid advice or ask again in newsgroup
uk.legal.moderated or at ACAS or with your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Tony

On 16 Nov, 14:46, Kontaminator  wrote:
> Back in October I received a letter from a previous employers solicitor
> claiming I owe them for the sum I would normally have been paid should I
> have worked the obligatory one week notice.
>
> I worked with the company from April till September, walked out deciding
> I'd had enough of it, enough of the stress, the smoking, just the whole
> thing the job was doing to me, no medical notes from doc saying I was
> stressed as a day later knowing I was NEVER going to work there again I
> felt great!
>
> I replied to them, as per legal advice that I was never made aware of a
> notice period, no contract or statement of particulars was EVER issued
> to me. And that they owed me holiday pay and 3 days pay that I worked
> since recieving the last salary payment - that I would counterclaim for
> such monies should they pursue legal action.
>
> I also as instructed by legal advisor raised grievance with the company
> (within 3 months) for the money not paid to me.
>
> They've now, a month later come back with the following:
>
> Re: Company
>
> We refer to your letter of 14th October.
>
> You have misunderstood our earlier letter of the 10th October, namely
> that the obligation to give notice is contained in a statutory
> provision. Whether or not you were aware of that provision is
> irrelevant. That provision implies an obligation on your part to give at
> least one week's notice. Accordingly, our clients will proceed with
> their claim.
>
> There was no agreement with regard to holiday and therefore no basis
> upon which you can make a claim.
>
> Our clients' claim will be issued within the course of the next few days
> and will include a claim for interests and costs. This can be avoided if
> payment of the sum claimed of £411.50 is paid within the next 7 days.
>
> Yours faithfully,
>
> Solicitors
>
> What's my best course of action? Bin it and forget it, or what....? I'd
> quite happily walk away with nothing so long as they get nothing from
> me. But do they owe me holiday pay by law??

Unless they'd paid you in advance, then you can't  "owe them for the
sum I would normally have been paid should I
have worked the obligatory one week notice". If your lack of notice
caused them business damage or extra expenses to cover for your
unavailability, then they can claim this from you through court
action. Presumably that would be their actual costs MINUS what they
would normally have paid you. They'd have to justify actual costs or
business damages.

They had a statutory entitlement to one week's notice.

The normal statutory minimum leave entitlement is four weeks per year
(pro-rata for part-time). Any paid public holidays already taken can
be counted as part of that entitlement, unless there is a contract
saying otherwise.

There are two separate issues. What you claim they owe you, which you
can claim through an industrial tribunal, but there are time limits
and requirements about raising grievance procedure with your employer,
and what they claim you owe them, which they can claim through the
court.

One option is to talk to the lawyers, get them to justify what they
say you owe your employer, work out what the employer owes you, and
negotiate. Again, in that case, I suggest you refer both aspects to a
specialist at Citizens Advice, to check entitlements and amounts.

Toom

On 16 Nov, 14:46, Kontaminator  wrote:
> They've now, a month later come back with the following:
>
> Re: Company
>
> We refer to your letter of 14th October.
>
> You have misunderstood our earlier letter of the 10th October, namely
> that the obligation to give notice is contained in a statutory
> provision. Whether or not you were aware of that provision is
> irrelevant. That provision implies an obligation on your part to give at
> least one week's notice. Accordingly, our clients will proceed with
> their claim.
>
> There was no agreement with regard to holiday and therefore no basis
> upon which you can make a claim.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/holidays_and_holiday_pay.htm

Toom

On 16 Nov, 17:12, Toom Tabard  wrote:
> On 16 Nov, 14:46, Kontaminator  wrote:

> > Back in October I received a letter from a previous employers solicitor
> > claiming I owe them for the sum I would normally have been paid should I> > have worked the obligatory one week notice.
>
>
> Unless they'd paid you in advance, then you can't  "owe them for the
> sum I would normally have been paid should I
> have worked the obligatory one week notice". If your lack of notice
> caused them business damage or extra expenses to cover for your
> unavailability, then they can claim this from you through court
> action. Presumably that would be their actual costs MINUS what they
> would normally have paid you. They'd have to justify actual costs or
> business damages.
>

It seems that what you previously said on uklm is:-

"They are trying to claim I owe them a loss of £411.50 based on the
fact
that they had to employ a contractor to cover my notice period at
£800,
and they have deducted my salary amount for that week from the
contractor cost (£355.77  NI @ £32.73)."

So the amount they are claiming is, in fact, their expenses minus your
salary. So if the work had to be done, a contractor the only
reasonable option, and the cost is reasonable, they may well be able
to substantiate a claim for  £411

Toom