QUESTION
In Oklahoma, does an employee have to provide letter of resignation or is verbal enough?
Asked on Oct 07th, 2014 on Employment Contracts - Oklahoma
More details to this question:
A 2 year employee gives verbal notice to employer 5 weeks into maternity leave (date of delivery) when the employer allowed 6 weeks from date of delivery that she does not want to return to work. Employer even asked her at 3 weeks if she was coming back. She wants to stay at home with the baby due to cost of day care and the simple fact that the 1st time 20 year old mom cannot imaging leaving her baby right now. Employer told her if she does not submit a letter of resignation, it will be considered abandonment from the job and that will not look good on her in the future. Isn't a verbal notice enough when they have already filled in her position. In fact she trained the new girl a few days before she was forced to immediately take maternity leave. And BTW, an employee handbook was made after this employee went on maternity leave. Therefore she has not signed one.Nor has she read one.
1 ANSWER
Your former employer is not telling you that you broke the law or breached any contract,and from the facts presented you have not. He/she is only telling you that the failure to submit a written resignation will look bad on your record. This may be true (although it doesn't seem true to me) but (a) it seems unlikely that any future potential employer would find out about it unless your former employer goes out of his/her way to mention it if asked for a reference; (b) given the reason you are not returning, any question of future employment seems like it is a ways down the line; and (c) given your reasons for not submitting a written letter of resignation, I doubt any future potential employer will hold it against you.
Answered on Oct 07th, 2014 at 1:43 PM