I have been working in a company for 3 years but recently I resigned as I got a good offer from another company.  They have accepted my resignation and I gave them a month’s notice. The firm told me that I should pay for the remaining 2 months — equal to   2 salaries because I am required to give a 3-month notice according to the new law. Is this right? The new law says “If the party which ends the contract does not take in to account the period of the notification then he must pay the other party for the notification period equal to wage of the worker.” As per our contract, the notification period is only 1 month.

Name withheld

Answer: If you go according to the articles of the new Labour Law, the company is right as it was enforced on Feb 20, 2010. According to the new law, you are required to give a 3-month notice but we are still waiting for the by-laws which might explain what must be done in cases like yours in which a different notice period is mentioned in the contract. Legal experts are divided on this issue so we have to wait for the by-laws.

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