I resigned in the heat of the moment and now regret it. What are my options?

If you have resigned from your job in the heat of the moment this may not be the end of the story for you. 

Employers can be made to understand that sometimes emotions (and tempers) can run high and you might end up doing something you regret.

If this has happened to you, what should you do?

• There is nothing in law that states how you should give notice. It can be given orally or in writing. Your contract may have specific provisions saying that it has to be in writing which may help you if you have resigned orally in error. 

• As a general rule notice of termination of employment (resignation) cannot be unilaterally withdrawn. Once given notice is immediately effective unless you rescind it as soon as you have calmed down. This is one exception to the general rule. 

• The very first thing you need to do is to tell someone in a position of power that you resigned in the heat of the moment but now regret it and do not want to leave your employment. Start the discussion ASAP.

• The Employment Appeal Tribunal has said that good industrial relations practice requires an employee to be given the opportunity to withdraw a resignation. You cannot make your employer get on board with this but you can signal this advice. 

• For a heat of the moment resignation to be valid it must be seriously meant or really intended. The person giving notice must be in their right mind (not blinded by fury during an argument for example). What happened after the resignation may also be considered as it will shed light on whether the resignation was really intended (my point above about telling someone in power ASAP that you did not mean it!)

• Employers should be cautious about accepting resignations in circumstances such as these and should allow a reasonable period of time for the employee to cool down. If they do not it is likely that an Employment Tribunal will find them to be at fault however much they might want to take advantage of the situation. They cannot ignore the context!

• If you do not retract your resignation in a reasonable time period (which I would suggest means as soon as possible or at the very least within 24 hours) then your employer is entitled to accept it and treat it as a seriously intended resignation. You have to act quickly. 

• If employers get it wrong you may have a fairly simple unfair dismissal claim if all the circumstances point to you having not intended to resign in the first place.