Can they decline your resignation?

This is the caveat for all articles we publish. These are opinions freely given, and they aren’t going to be right in all situations (see here for our terms and conditions) so use at your own risk. For tailored advice, book an appointment to discuss.

You’ll have heard people talk about not accepting resignations.  Can your boss choose not to accept your resignation?

It’s your decision, not theirs

This is the one power you have in this relationship, to end it unilaterally without any agreement.  You get to decide if you resign, and there’s nothing they can do about it.  If they dismiss you (whether for misconduct, performance or redundancy), you don’t get to withhold your agreement, they get to it unliterally.  Because they are employer with considerably more power, they have to do so responsibly and fairly, but they get to pull the pin without agreement.  Because you have less power, you get to pull the pin unilaterally too, without any obligation for fairness.   They only real question in play is about whatever contractual terms may exist, and generally this is just about how much notice you need to give.

You could leave on the spot

An employee can leave on the spot, and can resign with immediate effect.  An employee could resign with immediate effect seconds before being told they are dismissed, and that would be how the relationship end (see here for whether that’s a good idea or not).  

An employee who fails to give notice cannot be forced to work, the only real issue at hand is the consequences of their breach of contract for failing to give notice.   In most countries, the employer would have to take the employee to court to enforce a penalty and most organisations won’t both with that.  Some contracts have ‘forfeiture’ clauses, where the employee forfeits some or all money owing to them equal to the notice period not given, so you would need to check your contract to see if that’s a risk.

This section is very much opinion, and may vary country to country (see here for more) because it’s a breach of contract, and if you choose to do so, you do so at your own risk. But for an employer to force you to work your notice period feels like modern-day slavery, and that feels wrong.

They can refuse to let you take it back

A resignation is your lever to pull, and only you can pull it.  But once pulled, you can’t necessarily take it back.  Now there can be an obligation for a ‘cooling off’ period, where an employer is obliged to consider a retraction of a resignation where a resignation was given in the heat of the moment (the classic rage-quit), but unless you’ve stormed out in a huff, your employer doesn’t have to give you your job back.  So be careful.