Two weeks notice is probably the most common amount of notice that a person has to give when leaving a job. Three weeks or longer is also common especially for more senior positions.
Conversely, the company you’re working for typically agrees to pay you for the same amount of time if they decide they no longer want you to work for them (ie. due to a layoff or downsizing for example) and let you go. So in this instance, they can pay you to not work for them for a few weeks or longer if they terminate your employment without cause.
We already discussed quitting a job with little or no notice given and why you want to avoid this for various but something I didn’t cover in that post was the legal reason(s).
Depending on your job, your company and your personal situation, leaving a company without giving proper notice could become a legal issue if your (former) employer decides that they want to hold you to giving whatever notice is specified in your work contract.
Granted, most companies aren’t going to take former employees to court to enforce the notice period but I have heard of specific situations where this has happened. I’ve also heard of situations where a company enforces the non-compete part of a work agreement when one of their employees decides to leave voluntarily and takes a job with a competitor.
Depending on your job, your leaving the company without giving the required notice might cause the company to be hurt monetarily or otherwise and in this case, they could decide to take you to court to make you pay – literally – for injuring them.
The easy way to avoid this is to give proper notice when quitting and ensuring that you abide by the terms of your work agreement. Sometimes in practice this can be difficult if (for example) a job pops up and they want you start earlier than your notice period will allow. In this case your best bet might be to speak with your current employer and see if you can get a shorter notice period and see what happens. It could be a lot better than simply quitting early and hoping or expecting that nothing further will happen.
