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Q: Our organization generally
requests that employees give two-weeks’ notice of resignation. If an
employee resigns with two-weeks’ notice and we tell the employee to
leave prior to the end of the two-week period, are we obligated to
pay the employee for the full two weeks?
A: You may not be required
to pay for the two-weeks notice period, but should consider doing so
for employee morale reasons. Most employers request or require that
employees give advance written notice of their intention to resign
so that an orderly transition may be made. The amount of advance
notification usually depends on the importance of the position.
However, requiring employees to give notice of their resignations
may, in some states, create an implied contract obligating the
employer to give an equal amount of notice before terminating an
employee. For this reason, the Editors suggest requesting, but not
requiring, notice from terminating employees. In the scenario
described above, since notice is only requested, a contract
requiring the payment for the two-weeks notice period probably has
not been created.
[Creating HR Policies or Employee Handbook?]
Most employers pay for the notice
period, however, even if they do not have a contract requiring the
payment. Employers may choose to do this when they want an employee
to stop working immediately because the employee is in a sensitive
position, such as one having access to highly confidential
information or essential production equipment, and the employer is
concerned about reduced loyalty. If the employer simply tells the
employee to leave after giving notice, it may turn a voluntary
termination into an involuntary termination, making the employee
eligible for state unemployment compensation for that period of
time. More importantly, the employer may send a negative message to
the rest of its workforce, i.e., if you give notice as requested,
you may be terminated immediately. As a result, the employer will
not receive notice of terminations in the future. Accordingly, the
Editors suggest compensating the employee for the notice period in
order to ensure that there is no question about eligibility for
unemployment benefits and to encourage other employees to give
notice in the future.
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