Can an Employee Rescind a Resignation?
Here's a question that sometimes comes across my desk: After giving notice of resignation, can employees change their minds and say, "Never mind, I'm not actually quitting after all"? The answer, as anyone accustomed to dealing with lawyers might anticipate, is "It depends." The reality is that there's very little case law on this, but the case law that is there, across Canada, tends toward a conclusion that an employee can rescind a resignation at any time before (a) it is accepted by the employer OR (b) the employer relies on the resignation to its own detriment. Technically, if an employee says "I quit", and the employer responds immediately with "I accept your resignation", it looks like the employment relationship is over - at the employee's instance, meaning that no dismissal liabilities (termination pay, severance pay, pay in lieu of notice, etc.) are typically owed. But employers are generally well-advised to not put too