Resignation

Learn about your rights and responsibilities when resigning from work.

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Resigning from work

Resignation is when an employee decides to leave their employment and tells their employer. An employee may need to give notice when they resign.

Minimum notice period

An award, enterprise agreement or employment contract may set out how much notice an employee needs to give an employer.

The notice period:

  • starts the day after the employee gives notice that they want to end their employment
  • ends on the last day of employment.

Tip: Use our Notice and Redundancy Calculator

Use our Notice and Redundancy Calculator to find information about minimum notice requirements or select an award from the list below.

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Tip: How to give notice

When an employee resigns, they can give their employer notice verbally or in writing.

It’s best practice for employees to give notice of resignation in writing. This should also include what day will be the last day of employment.

For help preparing a resignation letter, use our interactive Letter of resignation template.

Casual employees

Casual employees don’t have to give notice to their employer when they resign. However, it is best practice for employees to give their employer notice of their last day.

For more information, visit Who doesn’t get notice.

Award and agreement free employees

An employee who isn’t covered by an award or agreement doesn’t have to give notice to an employer before resigning. However, an employment contract may require that employee to give notice. An employment contract can't provide less than the legal minimum set out in awards and agreements.

If an employee's contract has no information about notice, or the employee doesn't have a written contract, the employee might need to give their employer reasonable notice.

To find out where to get advice about terms and conditions in an employment contract, visit Employment contracts.

Deductions for not giving enough notice

Sometimes an employee may not give their employer enough notice when they resign. An award or enterprise agreement can allow an employer to withhold pay when the minimum notice period isn't given.

Most awards say that an employer can deduct up to one week’s wages from an employee’s pay if:

  • the employee is 18 years old or over
  • the employee hasn’t given the right amount of notice under their award, and
  • the deduction isn’t unreasonable.

Employers can only deduct wages owed under the award. They can’t make a deduction from other entitlements owed to the employee, such as leave or other over-award payments.

For more information about withholding pay under an award, go to our Library article – Minimum notice and withholding final pay.

An enterprise agreement can also have terms that allow an employer to withhold pay if an employee doesn’t give enough notice.

To find an enterprise agreement, search the Fair Work Commission’s website at Find an enterprise agreement.

After an employee resigns

An employer can’t choose to accept or reject an employee's resignation. It is best practice for an employer to acknowledge an employee's resignation.

After an employer receives their notice, they can discuss if:

  • the employee works their notice period, or
  • they end the notice period early.

Ending the notice period early

Sometimes an employee may resign and their employer will decide they don’t want the employee to work out the notice period.

An award, enterprise agreement or employment contract may have more information about ending the resignation notice period early.

Other options for ending the notice period early can include:

  • coming to an agreement with the employee to stop working
  • the employer ending the employee’s employment.

For more detailed information on what to do, visit our Library article – Resignation - notice period.

Taking leave during a notice period

An employee can take paid annual leave during a notice period if their employer agrees to the leave.

An employee can take paid sick or carer's leave during a notice period if they give:

  • notice of the leave as soon as possible
  • evidence if their employer asks for it, for example, a medical certificate.

Notice can include public holidays. However, public holidays don't extend the notice period.

For more information, visit our Library article – Ending employment during leave.

Final pay

Final pay refers to the last pay an employee gets after their employment ends.

For more information, go to Final pay.

Source reference for page: Fair Work Act 2009 sections 118, 324

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Related information

Tags
Ending employment (eg. final pay, notice)
Resignation