Accelerated Separation

MHarris

A salaried employee has given his two weeks notice, however, we want to accelerate his leave and make it effective immediately. Are we responsible for paying him for the two weeks or just through the last day worked? In my understanding, it is the last day of "active" work.

sonny

In a case like this, we would pay the 2 weeks.

LindaS

I agree with Sonny - we would pay him/her the two weeks.

MHarris

I agree as a matter of good faith, but are there any legal requirements that we do this?

LindaS

You would need to check with your state requirements although there aren't any here in Wisconsin. The other thing to consider if you choose to let this person go without paying them out is that person would probably be eligible for unemployment - they are ready and available for work and you do not have any work for them.

jimlegal

We would pay the employee and continue benefits through the date of their resignation and let them go home today. Thus, they are still technically employed until the date of the resignation. Avoiding any notion that upon receipt of the employees resignation we terminated the employee! Just my thoughts...

ray a

For an exempt employee, we have paid them for the 2 weeks then let them go early. I found out the hard way in NY if we excelerate their departure before the end of the 2 week period, they become eligible for unemployment insurance. Check your state laws.

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-26-03 AT 02:22PM (CST)[/font][p]In our state and most others, you would not violate a law by separating early. But, it's one helluva bad faith practice. It immediately terminates the family's insurance and stops his pay unless you honor the two weeks pay. Regarding unemployment, in most states there is a one week waiting period which would be the first week of the notice he gave and he might then draw for ONE week. What a crappy deal when he actually did the right thing by giving notice. I agree that it's best practice and will pay the company better rewards to pay the two weeks, leave his insurance in place and send him home if you want to. There are several things that would come back to haunt you later, if not. One is that it will send a clear signal to your workforce of how you operate and how many of them do you expect would give appropriate notice when and if they decided to leave?

(edit)We have several ongoing FMLA and Comp litigation issues. If I were to give notice and be told to hit the road without pay, my immediate question to them would be, "Let me ask you, who would you like me to testify for, you or the plaintiff?"