Can my employer refuse to accept my resignation while I am under investigation?

Transformers

Is this 'done wrong' just misconduct or might it also be a criminal act?

Alex1978

Transformers wrote: »

Is this 'done wrong' just misconduct or might it also be a criminal act?

This is also a criminal act

Undervalued

Alex1978 wrote: »

This is also a criminal act

Then you need to get proper legal advice. The ACAS helpline or this forum are not acceptable substitutes.

Transformers

Alex1978 wrote: »

This is also a criminal act

That's a whole new ball game then.

Speak with a solicitor - refrain from discussing online.

For general information, this is a tightly regulated industry - even for employees:

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/PFL-quick-guide-august-2012.pdf

theoretica

My understanding is that they cannot make you continue working for them - that would be slavery. However, you cannot, by getting in first and resigning, stop them from dismissing you at a later date.

ohreally

A resignation does not have to be accepted by the employer.

maninthestreet

ohreally wrote: »

A resignation does not have to be accepted by the employer.

No employer can force you to work for them. For all the jobs I've had, the contracts stated that an employee merely needs to give one months written notice to the employer of their intention to leave, with no requirement that the employer had to 'accept', 'agree' or 'approve' this notice in any way.

ohreally

maninthestreet wrote: »

No employer can force you to work for them. For all the jobs I've had, the contracts stated that an employee merely needs to give one months written notice to the employer of their intention to leave, with no requirement that the employer had to 'accept', 'agree' or 'approve' this notice in any way.

A resignation does not have to be accepted by the employer nor can it be withdrawn unilaterally

Norman Selwyn. Unfair Dismissal. In: Selwyns Law of Employment. 16th ed. Oxford university press. 455. 17.53

Silk

ohreally wrote: »

A resignation does not have to be accepted by the employer.

If an employee resigns it's the employees decision not the employers.
If you reverse the roles you would be saying the employee doesn't accept being dismissed !
However there's nothing stopping an employer reflecting in any reference's that the employee resigned pending discipline hearings


Whilst it does say that in Selwyn's Law of Employment. 455. 17.53 it refers to Tom Findlay & Co Ltd v Devlin
The case was Mrs Devlin resigned. Although statute required only 1 week's notice and her contract required only 4, she gave 12 weeks notice.
She said her employment would end on 25 November 2005 unless an earlier date suited Findlay, her employer. Having found a replacement for her, Findlay wrote advising Mrs Devlin that she would be paid until 25 November but that she could finish work as of 21 October 2005.
Mrs Devlin claimed unfair dismissal and won
The EAT decided that it could not consider the unfair dismissal claim as there had been no dismissal. Mrs Devlin had the right to bring her employment to an end provided that she gave proper notice. She did this by giving clear and unequivocal notice in her resignation letter that she was resigning with effect from 25 November.
Mrs Devlin argued that she had been dismissed because Findlay's letter of 7 October brought the date of termination forward without her consent. However, the EAT found that this letter did not bring the contract to an end, it merely ended Mrs Devlin's obligation to attend work. Therefore, there was no dismissal.
Resignations tendered in accordance with an employee's contract are not offers which require acceptance - the employee is simply asserting a contractual right. It follows that a properly given resignation cannot be unilaterally withdrawn by an employee.
The termination date given in a letter of resignation can be varied with the agreement of both the employer and employee. However, this was not the situation here: no other date was agreed between Mrs Devlin and Findlay and the contract of employment therefore terminated on 25 November in accordance with the letter of resignation.




It does go on to say in 455. 17.54

Whether an employee has resigned or was dismissed is a decision for the employment tribunal to determine

prowla

The terms should be laid out in the contract of employment; that's the agreement which the employer and employee signed up to.

Of course, if the employee did something illegal, then the company may take legal action against them, regardless of whether they are still an employee or not.

IMHO (IANAL), the employee has resigned and given notice, and the employer can't stop them leaving.