Resignation Notice From Employee

Medcor Data

If an employee resigns from employment and provides a notice (2week), are we required to pay them in the event we do not want them to stay during their given notice time ? Thank you.

Margaret Morford

Unless your state law says otherwise, you can accept the resignation effective immediately and make that day the last day worked. You don't have to pay the employee beyond that. Whether you let the employee work out his/her notice is the company's decision, not the employee's. Accepting a resignation effective immediately is often done with sales people (You don't want them talking to your customers telling the customers they are leaving), IS people (fear of computer sabotage), or dangerous and/or negative employees. You can do this on a case-by-case basis. Just make sure that you have a valid business reason and that your decisions don't show a discriminatory pattern. You may also make a resignation effective immediately during the two week notice period if the individual is not working or is causing problems. You call him/her in and say that you believe it is best that today be his/her last day.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Gar

Good advice from Margaret. I've seen numerous combinations of situations. Some involved employees who gave us 2 weeks notice then, as my southern friends would say, they "showed-out" and we had to ask them to leave earlier. I vividly recall a situation in which a former employee was about to be terminated for cause, gave us two weeks notice and we told her resign now or get fired now. But, as Margaret suggests, check your state's laws on this issue.

Gillian

You might want to check the impact of unemployment in your state. In California, this move would make the employer the "moving party", making the person eligible for unemployment compensation unless the termination was due to gross misconduct. If an employer doesn't want any impact on their unemployment rates, the employee will be paid through the notice period.

JJ

All good advice above. Another thing to think about is the effect on your current work staff. The word spreads and once the word gets around that if you give notice you will be terminated immediately, employees may stop giving notice and quit without notice. If your workforce is such that this doesn't leave you in a bind, it might not make a difference. We go ahead and pay for the two weeks, even if we ask the employee to leave immediately. It is a pretty inexpensive way to avoid some of the problems that can come up.