Handling Employee Resignation: Should We Issue a Termination Letter or Not?

analyndinglasan1988
Hello everyone, we have a case in which the employee has started displaying unacceptable behavior. For instance, he refuses to accept a workload from his supervisor (despite being a team leader previously) and has essentially abandoned his position by not fulfilling his duties. Consequently, we have reassigned him to another group. The reason he refuses to accept the workload assigned by his supervisor is that he no longer sees himself as a team leader. Additionally, his behavior is disrespectful and unprofessional as he chooses when to leave.

Incident Report and Administrative Hearing

Given the circumstances, we have already completed an incident report and conducted an administrative hearing. We were in the process of issuing another incident report and considering termination when the employee unexpectedly submitted his resignation via email. Our question is, do we still need to provide him with a termination letter or take any disciplinary action before his departure? Our lawyer is advising against it.

Please advise.
VIKRAM SAMUEL
You can accept his resignation in my view, and adjust his dues in the final settlement. Terminating him may cause unnecessary issues that could give you a headache.
analyndinglasan1988
Termination Process and Legal Concerns

As long as the termination is conducted through due process and documented, I don't think we will have a problem in the future. It's just that our lawyer is too afraid of having an issue or facing a court problem in the future. However, it's a concern for us in management that we cannot implement the policy that we have.

Regards
noahjethro
Understanding Resignation and Termination

Your lawyer is right; accepting the resignation is less complicated. You can also decide not to accept the resignation and proceed with the termination if you want to. Just be sure that due process was observed, and there are enough grounds for the termination. The terminated employee can always file a case with the NLRC, and the burden of proof is with the employer.

Voluntary vs. Involuntary Termination

Please note also that termination of employment can be voluntary, meaning the employee can initiate it, or it can be involuntary, meaning the management made the decision to sever the employee-employer relationship.
gianneanchor
I agree your lawyer is right. Conducting due process of sending the required twin notices would take time. Before you know it, the resignation date is over. Besides, you have to carefully prepare a series of memoranda based on your company policies before you decide to terminate the person.
mai_nucum
While it is the sole decision of the management to proceed with terminating the employee, I agree with the lawyer's recommendation. Accepting the resignation would entail less hassle on the part of the management. Aside from paying legal fees, it is also very time-consuming in terms of documentation to prove that the decision was based on due process.

Nevertheless, you can always be honest when the time comes for background reference checks to be done by the prospective employer, and he cannot escape from this. Usually, information may be needed, such as citing the reason why he resigned, what his behavior was like, his performance, relationship with peers/supervisor, and the like.

Good luck.
kareengrace.lacorte@gmail.com
Accept the Resignation

Accepting the resignation will be less complicated because:

1. You may require him to do a proper turnover, which is favorable to you if he has documents/items in his possession that need to be endorsed to your office.
2. There will be no more labor case. He might contest his termination because normally, termination means forfeiture of any benefits usually granted to resigning employees as his/her final pay.
3. His future won't be totally messed up because of his record of termination.

All is well that ends well.
rabel2012
Yes, accept the resignation letter. Since he already sent one, you need not worry about him anymore. If you decide to fire him after receiving the resignation letter, it depends on the effective date he specified. If he states "effective immediately," you cannot issue a termination letter because the resignation is already in effect once he mentions "effective immediately." However, if he specifies a future effective date for his resignation, you can proceed with termination. I recommend allowing him to resign and treating him with kindness. We are all employees in the same company unless we own it. As HR professionals, we should always be diplomatic and strive for industrial peace.

Thank you! I hope this helps resolve your concern.
carmela gargallano
We have a case in which the employee starts to have unacceptable behavior, such as he doesn't want to accept a workload from his supervisor (this employee involved is a team leader before) and he self-rendered his position since he is not performing his duties. We include him under another group, and his reason why he doesn't want to accept that workload given by this supervisor is because he is not a Team Leader anymore. He is also very nasty and doesn't have any respect for his superior. He leaves when he wants.

That's why we came up with an incident report (done), admin hearing (done), and about to give him another incident report. The last step is termination, but after preparing all of this, we received an email from him stating that he is resigning from his position. The question is, do we still need to give him a termination letter or any disciplinary action before he leaves? Our lawyer doesn't want to.

Please help.

"Always choose the 'lesser evil.' It is better to accept the resignation letter than to continue the due process of termination."
Ms.Mae
I have a similar case where an employee has been on AWOL for 60 days already. Our policy provides for a penalty of termination in this situation. We sent the first notice to the employee through his last known address, and in response, we received a resignation letter. Although we can proceed with the termination penalty, our lawyer recommends accepting the resignation instead. In accepting the resignation, we still highlighted the AWOL incident to emphasize that such behavior is unacceptable. We confirmed his voluntary resignation from employment, effective from the date he started his AWOL.
evanjerik
Handling Employee Resignation Amidst AWOL and Policy Violations

I have a similar case where an employee has been on AWOL for 60 days already. Our policy provides for a penalty of termination in this case. We sent the first notice to the employee through his last known address, and we received a resignation letter in reply. Although we can proceed with the penalty of termination, our lawyer recommends accepting the resignation instead. In accepting the resignation, we still indicated his act of AWOL to emphasize that this behavior is unacceptable and confirmed his voluntary resignation from employment effective on the date he started his AWOL.

I assume that this happened in the Philippines, where an employee's effective date of resignation is 30 days after submitting the "letter of resignation." Therefore, the person who committed a serious violation is still, technically speaking, under the employ of the company. In this regard, the company can still serve the notice of termination before the effective date of resignation, and all benefits accrued to him may be forfeited based on existing company rules and regulations.

In my opinion, the company should not have accepted the employee's resignation because there are already sufficient grounds for termination even before it (resignation) was filed. Secondly, it is pointless to indicate AWOL (absence without official leave) when the employee's resignation has already been accepted. Non-conformity or violations of company policies are best indicated in a termination letter and not in accepting a resignation.
If you are knowledgeable about any fact, resource or experience related to this topic - please add your views. For articles and copyrighted material please only cite the original source link. Each contribution will make this page a resource useful for everyone. Join To Contribute