resign with early notice

[zwg]

Hi,

Would like some advice with regards to termination of a contact. A friend of mine has submitted his resignation with 2 months notice per the employment contract due to job offer. The job is starting in one month and offer to buy out the other 1 month. The employer has rejected the 1 month pay-in-lieu notice. In the employment contract, it is only stated the employer can pay-in-lieu for early notice but stay silent for employee part - no clause saying it can or cannot.

P.S. My friend is not covered by the Employment Act.

Now my questions are:
1) can the employer reject the pay-in-lieu notice? What if the employee just leave despite of the reject (in email) of the buy out?
2) Is it fair to have inconsistent clause? Where only employer can pay-in-lieu but employee can't.
3) Is there any other option in order to resign and transfer to the new job?

Thanks

[Strong Eagle]

So... you've given notice. You've offered to pay 1 month of your salary and the employer refuses. What is going to happen if you don't show up for work? Is he going to terminate you immediately? That's what you want. Sounds like a stupid employer to me. Tell them you will be leaving at the end of one month. Seriously, what can they do? Demand that you pay them a month's salary? They've already rejected that. Wowza!

[sundaymorningstaple]

As he's not covered by the Employment act, couldn't the company go after him in a civil suit for disruption of business due to not working out the notice. (e.g., leaving w.i.p. outstanding and potentially with a large penalty by their client?) Yeah, I know it's far-fetched, but I'm speaking hypothetically now. Still, I agree it's a stupid employer, but it's also a stupid employee who signs an employment contract without reading and understanding it when it's not covered under the Employment Act.