Conditions for the validity of an employee’s resignation

As the courts regularly recall, a resignation must be freely consented to and result from “a clear and unequivocal will” of the employee to terminate his or her employment contract. If this is not the case, the employer, who accepts the employee’s resignation, will run the risk of reclassification by the judges as an unjustified dismissal as an employee could contest in court the termination of his employment agreement decided by the employer based on a resignation given without a clear and unequivocal will of the employee.

In your situation, it is therefore important, before acknowledging (or not) his resignation, to clarify with your employee the real reasons that push him to leave your company.

Illustrations: The courts have already decided that resignation is not freely consented to when the resigning employee is under the influence of anger or strong emotion or is in a depressive state that impairs his or her judgment.