How HR Should Handle Pay When an Employee Resigns

How HR Should Handle Pay When an Employee ResignsHow HR Should Handle Pay When an Employee ResignsIf youre wonderingHow to Handle an Employee Resignationwhen you dont want to offertwo weeks noticethere are several important things to consider. Lets consider the following scenario. The employees resignation was welcome and you didnt believe keeping him or her around for two more weeks would benefit your companyor the other employees. In fact, it may hurt employee morale. So, youve determined that their services should end that same day. You walkthe employee out the door and wished them well in all their future endeavors. Yourbig questionis does that mean the company should pay for the additional two weeks time that was given as notice? Should I (the employer) pay the employee as if he or she had been allowed to continue when the company accepted the resignation? You Need to Consider Setting a Precedent Generally speaking, mostemployers would want to pay for the employees two weeks just as if he or she had worked for the next two weeks. Thats because you dont want to set aprecedent or find yourself in a situation in which you treat employees differently. Assuming that you might want a good, valued employee to work the two weeks after their resignation, or to recognize their past contributions by paying for their time, you want to leave your options open. Paying some, and not other employees, following a resignation, no matter why they resigned, could very easily be interpreted as discrimination, which is an HR professionalsworst nightmare. Consider the Workplace Environment and All Employees If other employees know that you may not allow them to work out their two weeks notice or receive pay for the notice time, you encourage employees to not give two weeks notice at resignation. You will end up creating an environmental norm in which people just quit if they need to be paid for their last two weeks on the job. You simply have to operate on the premise th at most (if not all) employees want their final paycheck at resignation. Most likely youll be grateful that a non-productive employee whom you wanted to fire anyway, is leaving. The best course of action is to take the high road with a thank you gift of two weeks pay for the time, energy, paperwork, and so forth, that you were saved with their resignation. Two weeks pay is a nominal figure in comparison to what your organization may have experienced if you had gone the traditional routes of a performance improvement plan (PIP) or progressive disciplinary action. Take the Legal High Road There is very little likelihood that this employee would be in any position to sue you for any reason for his or her resignation. If they did, if you fork up the two weeks following their resignation, you look like the good guy who did the right thing- always a good position to be in should you end up standing in a court of law. And, while your objective in wanting to remove the employee from you r company is accomplished and all should be well, do check with your employment law attorney before you take action to understand all the parameters of what happensWhen Employees Resign.