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Home What to consider when you are about to resign? Our lawyer advises!

What to consider when you are about to resign? Our lawyer advises!

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Topics

  • Employment contract
  • Labour law
  • Legal assistance
  • Salary

Are you planning to move on from your current job to new challenges? Before you leave your job, it’s a good idea to take some time to read our lawyer Taija Numminen’s advice on termination of employment.

1. Check your notice period

In most cases, the notice period is defined in the employment contract or collective agreement and is affected by the duration of the employment relationship. Typically, the notice period is 14 days for employment relationships that have lasted less than five years and 1 month for employment relationships that have lasted more than five years. However, you should always check your own contract and the applicable collective agreement before giving notice.
 
Read more about notice periods!

2. Sign a new employment contract before you resign

If you are resigning and transferring to a new job, make sure that the contract for the new job is signed by both parties before you leave your old job. Also remember to take your notice period into account when agreeing to start your new job.

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3. Discuss your unused holidays

You can take untaken leave during the notice period, or your employer must pay it to you as holiday pay at the end of your employment. This is something you should discuss together. You can’t decide to take leave unless your employer agrees – but neither can your employer order you to take leave unless it’s a holiday season. They must also respect the one-month notice period.
 
Read more about holidays and resignations!

4. Check your final salary

The pay period ends at the end of your employment. The employer must therefore pay the last salary, known as the final salary, which typically includes holiday pay. Check that the final paycheck pays all your claims, including, for example, any reimbursement of expenses. Sometimes the employment contract or collective agreement stipulates that the final salary can be paid on the normal payday following the end of the employment relationship.

Read more about final pay!

5. Discuss the employment benefits

Often, employers offer their employees many benefits in addition to their salary, such as exercise and lunch vouchers and insurance. All benefits should be available even if you give notice. However, it is up to the employer to decide what to do with, for example, accrued benefits when the employment relationship ends: whether they can be used up, whether they can be used for a limited period or whether they are immediately withdrawn at the end of the employment relationship. Be sure to discuss this with your employer as well.

6. Return the employer’s property

You must return all employer property in your possession, such as your computer, telephone, work clothes and keys, no later than the end of your employment. You can also agree to claim the phone, for example, for yourself. You can also agree to hand over your telephone number if it is owned by your employer.

7. Go through your email, but don’t clear it all out

Remember that your work email will stop working at the end of your employment at the latest, so it’s worth going through it and deleting any personal messages. Please note that you do not have the right to delete your entire email folder without permission. You are also obliged to forward any important information in your email to your employer. The employer does not have the right to read your work email, even after your employment has ended, unless you give your permission.

8. Agree together on how to communicate

It is best to agree together how and when to inform other employees, clients and partners about your departure and who to contact in the future. You should not take the initiative to inform customers, for example.

9. Information about the exemption from the work obligation must be received in writing

In some cases, the employer may wish to release the dismissed employee from the obligation to work during the notice period. If this is the case, you should ask the employer for written notification. This will ensure that there are no disputes afterwards. Even if the job is terminated, the employment relationship remains in force and the payment of wages – and accrual of holidays – continues throughout the period of notice.

10. Take into account the duty of loyalty and the non-competition and non-solicitation obligations

Even if you have been released from your employment obligation during the notice period, you are still not allowed to start or prepare a competing activity. If your employment contract expressly so provides, the non-competition obligation may continue beyond the end of your employment. In this case, the employer must pay you compensation for the non-competition period. Remember to check whether your employment contract includes a non-recruitment or non-solicitation clause – and also take into account the confidentiality obligations!

Read more about non-compete!

11. Remember the possible suspension period

Remember that if you resign without valid reason, you will not be entitled to unemployment benefit for 45 days after termination of employment.
 
Read more about the suspension period!

12. Ask for a employment certificate

Your employer is obliged to write you at least a brief certificate of employment, but you must remember to ask for one. If you ask, the employer must also write a more comprehensive certificate, including an assessment of your skills and behaviour and the reason for the termination.
 
Read more about the employment certificate!

13. Do not burn bridges

You never know what and who life will throw at you. So it’s always better to handle your resignation and your obligations during your notice period properly and in good faith.