Employees Warned of SMS Resignations - [website] Published: 18th of Apr 2011 by: (c) Staff Training Reporter
It may be the one SMS that really counts
Employees are being warned that statements made in text messages to their bosses will be taken at face value and acted upon – so think twice before hitting that send button.
This issue has arisen due to employees using SMSes to inform their superiors of their intended resignation, and thereafter changing their minds and withdrawing the action.
According to an article in Business Day on Tuesday last week, Global Business Solutions CEO Jonathan Goldberg said you often see employees resigning and then changing their minds, whereas the employer involved simply wants to move on.
Business Day said according to labour law consultants there were various cases last year of employees resigning through text messages and later claiming that “they did not necessarily mean what they said in [the] SMSes.”
Mr Goldberg explains that to terminate a contract with a business, “the employee must indicate a clear and unambiguous intention to no longer go on with the contract.”
“This must be expressed by words or conduct that leads a reasonable person to believe that such an intention is harboured. It is essentially a final, unilateral act that cannot be withdrawn without the employer’s consent.”
Ergo, once you’ve sent an SMS stating your intention to resign, you are committed to that statement and will be at the mercy of your employer should you change your mind.
So be careful what you type in those SMSes or on your Facebook wall, it might just come back to bite you.
