518-373-4111
Terminating an employee after they give notice can be a little bit complicated. If you had an employee give his two weeks’ notice, but then his manager decided to let him go immediately, the most important thing is to make sure you pay the employee through the last day he worked. But what if he claims he is entitled to the two weeks of pay he would have earned?
As long as you don’t have an employment contract with the employee, a collective bargaining agreement that applies to the employee, or a handbook policy that requires a certain period of notice, you may opt to accept his resignation early.
You do not have to pay the employee for the portion of the notice period during which he performed no work. So if he was a non-exempt (overtime-eligible) employee, you simply need to pay him for all time worked. And if he was an exempt employee, you only need to pay him his regular salary through his last day worked.
A final note: terminating the employee early without providing pay through the unworked notice period is legal, but it may affect the employee’s unemployment eligibility. The company will essentially be turning a voluntary resignation into an involuntary termination. Therefore, he may become eligible for some unemployment benefits.
For more information on how GTM helps businesses with HR issues like this one, contact us at (518) 373-4111.
