It happens to the best of us – your employer does something that just tips you over the edge and in a moment of anger you decide to quit your job. What happens if you quickly realise that you made a mistake, can you take back your resignation? What if you sent an SMS, and not an email, does that still count as a formal resignation that is legally binding?
To understand how the law looks at resignations, you must understand how the employer-employee relationship works. When you start working for an employer, you enter into a contract of employment with them. This contract protects both of you – your employer can’t just fire you tomorrow, but you also can’t just resign tomorrow without legal consequences. A resignation is a unilateral termination of this contract by you, the employee. There’s also the idea that your employer has to “accept” your resignation in writing for it to be valid, but this is not true.
In one case (Mafika v SA Broadcasting Corporation Ltd), the employee was suspended pending disciplinary action. He sent an SMS to the CEO stating that he had “quit with immediate effect”. He then had second thoughts and quickly tried to withdraw his resignation. The courts ruled that an SMS counts as a communication in writing in terms of section 12 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002.
In other words, if you resign – whether you do it over SMS, email, in person or by any other means that makes it clear you do not want to continue your working relationship with your employer – you have no legal right to unilaterally withdraw your resignation.
You may only withdraw your resignation if your employer agrees that you can, but you do not have any legal rights to demand that your employer withdraw your resignation or re-employ you if you change your mind.
Tips:
- A resignation by SMS is still a valid resignation.
- You cannot withdraw your resignation once you’ve given it to your employer, unless your employer agrees to this.
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* This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely.