Employee Notice Period

HR Question of the Month

Submitted by Federated Insurance

Question
We had an employee give his two weeks’ notice today; he wants to work for the next two weeks and then voluntarily leave our company. However, this individual has not been a good employee and will add little value to our organization for the next two weeks. We would rather just tell him that his resignation is effective immediately and not have to pay him for another two weeks. Are we Employallowed to accelerate his notice period and make his resignation effective immediately?

Answer
If an employment relationship is at will, an employer is within their rights to accelerate a resigning employee’s notice period and have the employee leave sooner. This may, in some cases, be advisable if the employer is concerned about retaining a potentially difficult employee who will add little value or may try to sabotage the employer. An employer generally is not required to pay an employee through a notice period.

That said, if an employer does not pay an employee through their notice period, the employer has effectively converted what was once a voluntary resignation into an involuntary discharge on the date the employer advises the employee to leave. In so doing, the employer may be exposed to a subsequent unemployment compensation claim and an award of benefits, given that employees who are involuntarily terminated from employment are often more likely to be awarded unemployment compensation benefits than those who resign from employment voluntarily. Thus, an employer should consider paying a resigning employee through the notice period and ending the employment relationship on the date of resignation the employee offered. Even if the employer tells the employee not to report to work for the length of the notice period, the employer has not changed the nature of the separation, which arguably remains a voluntary quit.