Is My Employee's Resignation Valid if It's Effective in Two Days? How to Calculate Notice Period?

I have received an email from my employee today, December 5, 2020, at 2:23 pm, in which he mentioned, "I would like to inform you that I am resigning from my position effective from December 7, 2020." Today is December 5, 2020. Is this resignation valid? From when should his notice period be calculated: December 5th or December 7th?

The date of resignation is 05-Dec-2020; therefore, his notice period starts from the same day, i.e., 05-Dec-2020. The employee has mentioned that his resignation is from 07-Dec-2020; therefore, he will not attend to his duties from this day. Consequently, his Last Working Day (LWD) will be 06-Dec-2020. Though it is Sunday, it has to be considered as a working day.

The explanation given above is for your query only. Since we do not know the terms of separation mentioned in the appointment letter, we cannot comment on whether the resignation is as per those terms.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Perhaps there is some miscommunication. It appears the employee wants to inform you that he or she has resigned now and will be unavailable from December 7, 2020. However, the wording makes it sound like a conditional resignation; it is only an intimation that the employee will resign on December 7. The resignation must be unconditional, and the severance notice must take immediate effect. Therefore, action can only be initiated on the 7th, and the notice period would start only thereafter. On the 7th, you need to seek clarity on whether the employee has finally decided to quit or not.

Understanding the Effective Date of Resignation

Sorry to differ with the learned friends, as I have a different perception about the effective date of resignation. The term resignation in the employment context refers to the formal statement of an employee's intention to leave a job or position held by him/her in an organization. Therefore, if an effective date in the future is mentioned, that is the actual date of leaving from his side. If no date is mentioned, it takes immediate effect.

Acceptance of resignation and counting of the notice period as per the terms of unilateral exit are procedural formalities following the submission of a resignation letter. If the employee is prepared to face the consequences in this regard, well, he may stop coming to work from the next day following the effective date of resignation chosen by him. The notice period, if mentioned in the separation clause, would actually lie between the date of submission of the resignation and its effective date. In this case, his notice period commences on 6th December only.

I thank everyone for their guidance. According to the service conditions, the employee should serve a 60-day notice period, and he has mentioned in his letter that he will serve the notice period.

My confusion is whether the notice period will start from the 5th (since the mail was received on the 5th) or from the 7th.