Can I leave a new job after 2 weeks despite signing a 30-day notice clause? Will there be legal consequences?

[quicky008]

I recently joined a new college as Assistant Professor after resigning from my previous college. However, I found the new workplace to be highly toxic and exploitative, and I wish to leave immediately.

I signed an employment contract that requires 30 days' notice before resignation. I’ve worked there for only ~2 weeks.

Will quitting now lead to any legal problems or affect future job opportunities? Also, can I request my previous employer to cancel my resignation since my notice period there is technically still ongoing? (i left before my notice period was over by applying for a leave of absence,as my new employer insisted on immediate joining,else risk losing the offer)


Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

 

[patkim]

Just my personal opinion -

Any decent employer knows the professional ethics. When you are employed, they understand that you have a notice period and it is expected that you serve it and then join. Some however do buy the notice period on your behalf if they want you to join early. It seems they have created that urgency in an unprofessional way and it does not sound ethical to me.

If you have not signed any employment contract, technically you should be safe. Simply do not disclose that you were employed with that current company to anyone. In case there will be a gap in CV, think of some justifiable reasons.

If the earlier employer allows withdrawal of resignation in their MIS, you can check with them. If there’s no such process, I guess you will have to discuss 1-0-1 with the decision-making authority with your previous employer. However if they agree, it would be better to stick with them for a reasonable time.

 

[Desmond]

Just see what your employment agreement says. If you are already serving a notice period for resignation and you have joined another company, you can request your new employer "buy you out" from the current employer so that you can leave earlier. This depends on whether your future and current employers both have policies for such a buy-out. Usually such buy-outs are ad hoc agreements you will have to broker between both the employers.

But yeah, as @patkim said, ensure that there is no gap in your resume or make up a believable excuse if you insist on having a gap for the duration that you were an employee of that org. I would personally just update my resume to not show any gap.