One of my employees has resigned but now wants
to take back his resignation. I’m not sure I want him to. What can I do?
The basic position is that the employee does not have the right to unilaterally
withdraw their resignation once given. You can consider their request, and may
allow them to retract, but you can also accept it and the employee has to deal
with the consequences of their actions. However, if the resignation was made in
the heat of the moment, then you should give the situation a couple of days to
cool off and then make a final decision as to whether the employee really meant
to resign or not. If you do not allow a cooling-off period and immediately
accept a resignation made in the heat of the moment, then a tribunal may decide
that the employee did not in fact resign, but was dismissed. This is only the
case for spur of the moment resignations; normal resignations can be accepted
immediately. If you are actually relieved that the employee has resigned, and
it is no “heat of the moment” resignation, you are free to accept the
resignation and breathe a sigh of relief.
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