# Can Someone Take Back Their Resignation?



## delgirl (10 Jun 2008)

A friend of mine who is employed in quite a stressful fulltime, permanent position has tendered her resignation (1 month's notice) and now 2 weeks later has realised that she is making a mistake and wants to take it back.

She did it when under a lot of stress and is not sure how her employer will react if she tries to withdraw it.

Can the employer decide not to allow her to withdraw it?  Does she have the right to take it back?  

She's been in the job for 2 and a half years and they haven't got a replacement for her yet.

Thanks


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## ClubMan (10 Jun 2008)

delgirl said:


> Can the employer decide not to allow her to withdraw it?


I would imagine so. Did they not respond to the resignation when it was presented? If they did then what did they say?


> Does she have the right to take it back?


No statutory right as far as I know. In legal terms she has served notice that she is terminating the contract of employment. the employer can either insist on this or cancel it at their own discretion. 


> She's been in the job for 2 and a half years and they haven't got a replacement for her yet.


Have they started looking? It would be perfectly understandable for an employer faced with this situation to decide that they were better off without the employee in question and to simply let the notice period run out. On the other hand depending on her relationship with the employer they may be able to come to some mutually agreeable arrangement in order to help her overcome whatever problems she is going through and to retain her job.


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## MandaC (10 Jun 2008)

I would think it would depend on the relationship she has with the Company.

I used to know a guy who walked around with his notice in his shirt pocket.  Any time he got stressed etc,(over the slightest thing) out it would come.  The company would humour him and all would be well for a time. After about the third time, they decided it better to let him walk as they felt they could not put up with this, bad for business, bad for their stress levels, and bad for other employees.


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## ClubMan (10 Jun 2008)

MandaC said:


> I would think it would depend on the relationship she has with the Company.


Yeah - and, to me, this suggests that it may not be that close:


delgirl said:


> She ... is not sure how her employer will react if she tries to withdraw it.


Her best bet might be to just discuss the issue openly and honestly with her employer. If there are serious medical/stress issues involved then she should talk to her _GP _first.


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## delgirl (10 Jun 2008)

Thanks for the replies.

Her Manager was a bit miffed as she's leaving just when the summer season starts and that's their busiest time.

She's a key employee on 70k and will possibly be difficult to replace.

She will go and talk to him today and just wasn't sure where she stood as regards employment law - if there's any kind of 'cooling off period' during which she could withdraw it.

I'll post back with the outcome.


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## ClubMan (10 Jun 2008)

delgirl said:


> Her Manager was a bit miffed as she's leaving just when the summer season starts and that's their busiest time.
> 
> She's a key employee on 70k and will possibly be difficult to replace.


Could her manager/colleagues identify her from these details!?!


> She will go and talk to him today and just wasn't sure where she stood as regards employment law - if there's any kind of 'cooling off period' during which she could withdraw it.


Almost certainly not.


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## rmelly (10 Jun 2008)

> Her Manager was a bit miffed as she's leaving just when the summer season starts and that's their busiest time.


 
Even if they decide to keep her (entirely at their discretion) and she is as key as you say, she'll be tainted goods, they will be sure not to allow this to happen again, and will probably work up a contingency plan - i.e. giving her an 'assistant' or having her train someone else in to do the role to 'ease the burden'. I'm sure someone will post that this is constructive dismissal etc, but it happens in the real world and will be a bit (or a lot) more subtle.

To your knowledge have they made any effort to get her to rethink?


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## Staples (10 Jun 2008)

In legal terms, however, there is no "cooling-off" period upon which one could rely.The formal notice can be disregarded only by mutual consent.  If the employer is anxious to retain a key employee for a busy period, this probably increases the likelihood of him doing so and so circumstances may work in favour of your friend's renewed intentions. 

I would agree, however, that assuming the notice is disregarded, your friend would be wise to raise the work circumstances or conditions that prompted the notice in the first place.  The employer will be conscious that your friend still has one eye on the door and he would probably be glad of some reassurance that your friend is capable of applying reasonable commitment in the future.


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## Brianne (10 Jun 2008)

I think your friend should be honest and calm and tell them exactly why she did what she did. In any large organisation there are bound to be problems and maybe on both sides there has been failure of communication resulting in stress. If she is a valued employee on that salary it would surely be in their interest to listen to her and try to rectify the situation. To try to train someone else up to her level is a big undertaking but maybe by telling how she got into this situation they may decide that she has valid concerns and needs help.
I have seen situations where employees have cancelled resignations much to the delight of all, equally some to the dismay of all. But sometimes people who do decide to stay have improved attitude and sort out difficulties.
Naturally she will have to pretend to eat a little humble pie but so what if the job is what she wants.


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## whitegrass (11 Jun 2008)

Yes they can take back their resignation, and validly so, if they were suffering from stress when resignation tendered.


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## Hasslehoff (11 Jun 2008)

Would they take her back, eh absolutely, why ? well stressed out employee hands in resignation, sounds familiar even though most have not aluded to this point. Does the company want to accept it or face a potential constructive dismissal down the road , going through all of the fora which is available to an employee? You bet they dont.

http://nzplc.massey.ac.nz/default.asp?page=docs/workstress/stresscases.htm

The Walker v Northumberland CC is the most publiscised, once she mention that she had to resign due to the stressful nature of the job and that she has reassessed the matter and hopes that they will too.


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## rmelly (11 Jun 2008)

who determines whether she was suffering from stress?


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## whitegrass (11 Jun 2008)

Her doctor or the nominated employer doctor or both.


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## delgirl (19 Jun 2008)

A quick update to all of you who gave advice - unfortunately the person in question couldn't pluck up the courage / was too proud to ask for the withdrawl of the notice and left her job last week. 

She is now out of work and there are few/no similar prospects in the area where she lives with her family (she's the main breadwinner).

It was a very unfortunate situation and should be a lesson to anyone thinking of resigning to really think hard and not to act under stress or while emotional as the consequences can be dire.


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## WaterSprite (19 Jun 2008)

On a different side of this topic - I always advise employers to send formal acceptance of a resignation (this rarely happens) so that both parties know it's a done deal.  Then an attempted retraction by an employee can be dealt with at the discretion of the employer.  Strictly speaking, if the resignation hasn't been "accepted" it should be possible to retract it; however, the passage of time (in this case two weeks from date of resignation to date of second thoughts) would probably be enough for acceptance to be implied.

Agree it's an unfortunate situation - your friend I'm sure has learned a lot from the experience.  I hope she doesn't regret not asking to retract the resignation.  It's a pity if she was really stopped by pride or fear.

Sprite


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## rmelly (19 Jun 2008)

> I hope she doesn't regret not asking to retract the resignation. It's a pity if she was really stopped by pride or fear.


 
Notwithstanding the comments on stress, I don't believe the employer would ever be under an obligation to accept the take back, so this is academic.


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