Labour Court Finds that Employee Could Not Unilaterally Withdraw His Resignation

The Labour Court has ruled in Longford County Council -v- McManus (UDD1753) that an employee who had sought to retract his resignation date could not do so without the employer’s agreement. The employee here worked as an Executive Engineer and he notified his employer that he wished to take early retirement. The employer agreed to this request but on 6 separate occasions he changed his mind as to when he would retire. The company agreed to change the date on each of these occasions and it was ultimately agreed that he would finish up on 17th March 2016. Indeed, the decision outlines that the employee “[b]y letter of 12/2/16 he advised that if they could facilitate his retirement on 17th March 2016 that would be his final letter regarding modifications to his retirement date. Following this, the complainant received a letter from the Deputy Chief Executive confirming his retirement date of 17th March 2016.” However, on 6th March 2016, 3 weeks after he had stated that he would not change his retirement date again, the employee requested that his retirement date be moved to April 2016. The employer said they would consider the request but ultimately rejected it, notifying the employee that his resignation would go ahead on 17th March 2016. The employee ultimately claimed that this amount to an unfair dismissal (i.e. not a constructive dismissal) as he had retracted his resignation and by rejecting this his employer had basically dismissed him. The WRC and the Labour Court both disagreed and found that he had not been unfairly dismissed as he had in fact resigned and that his resignation was “unambiguous and unconditional”. The Labour Court went on to conclude as follows: “It is settled law that a resignation is a unilateral act which, if expressed in unambiguous and unconditional terms, brings a contract of employment to an end. The contract cannot be reconstructed by the subsequent unilateral withdrawal of the resignation. Where adequate notice is given, the contract is generally terminated in accordance with its terms and since there is no repudiation the acceptance of the resignation by the employer is not required in order to determine the contract.” It should be noted that there are occasions where an employer should allow an employee to retract a resignation (particularly if the employee resigned in a ‘heat of the moment’ type scenario) but this is a notable decision nonetheless as an employer is certainly not always obliged to do so. If you have any questions in relation to employee resignations, please contact our expert employment law advisors on the 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 855 5050