If you give your two weeks notice, but your employer decides that the day you give the notice will be your last day, are you entitled to payment for those two weeks?

Nope. It's the same as if they fired you. A lot of employers will pay you for those two weeks if they kick you out immediately, but it's not required.

Depends on the company and what is in your employer manuals.

I just went through this. At my last company because I gave 2 weeks and worked it out, I was eligible for all commissions on sales I booked for the rest of that month and the next quarter's incentive payout (earned the previous quarter). That was definitely on the generous side though. Even if they terminated me the day I gave my notice, I still would have gotten all of the above.

No

If your employer can let you go at the drop of a hat and not have significant issues or downtime, doesn't that say something about the role you fill?

I've only changed jobs once, and it was amicable, but the two weeks was spent getting my coworkers up to speed on the projects I was working on.

Coming from someone who survived the '09s and had to deal with a bunch of "new" projects w/o anybody with any working knowledge of those projects, it really sucks to takeover something in progress and not have a damn clue what's been going on related to those projects.

quote:

---

If your employer can let you go at the drop of a hat and not have significant issues or downtime, doesn't that say something about the role you fill?

---

THIS

^ industry specific. Depending on the information you handle and the new job you're going to, some employers don't want you hanging around. At least that's how it's been at my O&G company when anyone from a tech up to a manager gave two weeks. They were escorted out and told their belongings would be mailed to them. No idea how compensation is handled.

quote:

---

If you're resigning and try to give two weeks, that usually means that you've worked something out with your new employer including allocating appropriate time for giving notice.

If your current employer wants to be a cheap ass and try to get out of paying you for the courtesy, then I would make their actions known in terms of dinging their reputation.

---

Because going around and badmouthing a former employer could never come back and bite you in the ass....

quote:

---

^ industry specific. Depending on the information you handle and the new job you're going to, some employers don't want you hanging around. At least that's how it's been at my O&G company when anyone from a tech up to a manager gave two weeks. They were escorted out and told their belongings would be mailed to them. No idea how compensation is handled.

---

This is my experience as well. Customer contacts, client lists, etc are all extremely proprietary and once you give the news, you better have your stuff packed. I expected this to happen when I left my last company and I told the new group that I would likely be joining them that afternoon. Had my stuff in a box and drove to the new job from the old office.

quote:

---

If your employer can let you go at the drop of a hat and not have significant issues or downtime, doesn't that say something about the role you fill?

---

No. At my old company, when a manager or above gave notice, they were walked out immediately. As others have said, it came down to the information we had and contact with the customer.

What you can do is file for unemployment for those two weeks.

Thanks for the responses. This isn't my own situation, but a friend of mine. What would they need to do if in the employee handbook it states that an employee must give a two weeks notice, in which the employer can accept immediately. If accepted immediately, the employer is still eligible to pay the employee for those two weeks...

That's the current situation. The employer said via email that they would stand firm to their decision as to not pay the remainder of the two weeks notice, even after my friend quoted the sections of their company handbook. When my friend started, they along with the employer signed an acceptance of this handbook.

Handbook is not a contract, its a standard of conduct, and I bet they can find a way that he violated during his employment if they wanted to, like that time he was on Texags, which violated the IT policy.

Texas is a Right to Work state, and you can (mostly) be fired at any time for no reason. They have no obligation to pay him for time he didn't work.

If I were him, I would stop wasting my time, and look forward to my new job at a company that is not full of asshats.

quote:

---

What you can do is file for unemployment for those two weeks.

---

Not unless there are extenuating circumstances. If the notice is two weeks or less, and the employer accepts the resignation early, it is still considered a voluntary resignation by the Texas Workforce Commission.

quote:

---

The amount of notice can be important in a TWC case. The rule followed by the Commission recognizes that two weeks' notice is standard in most industries. If the employee gives notice of intent to resign by a definite date two weeks or less in the future and you accept the notice early at your convenience, it will be regarded as a resignation, not a discharge.

---

From http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/types_of_work_separations.html

Nope and its unfortunate because it scares people to actually be courteous and give notice. Sorry that happened to you!

Some places have the policy to "walk you out immediately", but he would have probably known that was the case before giving notice if it was SOP.

I actually just went through this recently. I worked for a small oil and gas company in Houston. I confirmed everything with HR before resigning. My HR rep told me that if I gave my two weeks notice and the company decided to release me that same day or earlier than expected. If they released me early and did not pay me for the 2 weeks notice then it technically counts as a termination, and if they did not have cause (previous written warnings, documentation, etc) for the termination, then I could sue them for discrimination. For reference, I am a hispanic male.

That was straight from HR's mouth. I think most companies would do the honorable thing and honor your notice or pay you out for it. If they dont pay you out for your notice then go to their legal dept and make them aware of whats going on. I think most companies' legal and HR depts would realize that it is much easier to pay out or honor someone's notice and avoid a potential lawsuit.

While that's a good practice that may be law from your HRs perspective, there's no TWC regulation that says thou shalt pay two weeks - in fact the opposite is true (see my previous post).

There could be something like that in EEOC regs, but it's not discriminatory unless you can show they did it for a discriminatory reason. Either way, it wouldn't entitle you to unemployment benefits in Texas.

quote:

---

If your employer can let you go at the drop of a hat and not have significant issues or downtime, doesn't that say something about the role you fill?

I've only changed jobs once, and it was amicable, but the two weeks was spent getting my coworkers up to speed on the projects I was working on.

Coming from someone who survived the '09s and had to deal with a bunch of "new" projects w/o anybody with any working knowledge of those projects, it really sucks to takeover something in progress and not have a damn clue what's been going on related to those projects.

---

Many companies have policies to decline the two weeks notice regardless of how dumb that would be. Protip for employers: if someone capable of stealing your information wants to do so, he already did it.

Last time I gave notice, I knew that the company had an unwritten policy to decline the two weeks, not pay you for them, and not pay you for accrued vacation. I still did the professional thing and wrote up a document prior to quitting that summarized all the projects I was working, last and next steps, and key contacts. I also made sure that my computer files were in order with the current things labeled by project and clearly set apart from older projects/analyses.

I was one of the rare people who wasn't escorted out of the building with my email shut down before I left the building, so I was able to make the rounds, give people a heads up, and answer emails for a week or two until they got around to killing my accounts. Given the nature of that company I'm sure most of the projects were dropped in fairly short order anyway, but at least I know I did the right thing.

quote:

---

If they released me early and did not pay me for the 2 weeks notice then it technically counts as a termination, and if they did not have cause (previous written warnings, documentation, etc) for the termination, then I could sue them for discrimination. For reference, I am a hispanic male.

---

I am not a lawyer, but I think Texas law says that they are under no obligation to pay you after you have tendered resignation unless it is explicitly stated in your employment contract. Your employment contract may very well have included policies regarding the period after giving notice, but I don't think it's a generic thing that applies to all companies.

quote:

---

I actually just went through this recently. I worked for a small oil and gas company in Houston. I confirmed everything with HR before resigning. My HR rep told me that if I gave my two weeks notice and the company decided to release me that same day or earlier than expected. If they released me early and did not pay me for the 2 weeks notice then it technically counts as a termination, and if they did not have cause (previous written warnings, documentation, etc) for the termination, then I could sue them for discrimination. For reference, I am a hispanic male.

That was straight from HR's mouth. I

---

You received poor advice from a stupid HR person.

You resigned - you are not obligated to provide a 2-week notice and the company is not obligated to take two weeks. The company can just accept your resignation effective immediately. They aren't obligated to pay you for work not performed and don't owe you anything.

You hispanicness has nothing to do with it.

As an HR Pro that know's what they hell I am talking about - I really hate it when I hear about all of the terrible HR people out there.

Ark03, I think you are right. This would be covered under the EEOC, not TWC. Im not an HR expert, Im just relaying what my HR rep told me.

quote:

---

Ark03, I think you are right. This would be covered under the EEOC, not TWC. Im not an HR expert, Im just relaying what my HR rep told me.

---

I'm sorry I threw out the EEOC - there's nothing in either EEOC or FLSA regs about requiring a two-weeks notice. I don't know where my head was last night.

Most states (I think all except Montana) have adopted an at-will employment doctrine. That means that either the employee or employer can terminate the relationship at any time. You can quit for any reason at any time, and your employer can terminate you or change the terms of your employment at any time, for any reason (or for no reason), as long as it is not an illegal reason. HR is more careful than that because they don't want to get sued. Without documentation, it can be hard to defend that the reason someone was terminated is not illegal. Two weeks generally has nothing to do with it.

There are some state laws on the subject. California laws restrict companies from withholding vacation pay if you give less than two weeks notice. Many others allow you to receive unemployment benefits if you give two weeks notice, but your employer immediately terminates you. That's not the case in Texas unless they terminated you more than two weeks before the date for which you gave notice.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Many companies have policies to decline the two weeks notice regardless of how dumb that would be. Protip for employers: if someone capable of stealing your information wants to do so, he already did it.

---

---

This is so true. I knew about one of my previous companies immediately showing you to the door upon turning in two weeks notice. I spent all that time typing up a sincere and professional resignation letter - if I had wanted to jack things up, I would have already done it before resigning.

Also, I learned to look at employee vacation policies. I worked for a couple companies who will honor your vacation and/or PTO that you have accrued but not used and pay you for it at the end of your employment, but I've also worked for a company who didn't pay. Now if I have vacation left and plan on leaving the company, I will just take the vacation before resigning. Also make sure you don't use too much or they'll take it out of your last paycheck.

Any thoughts on this scenario:

2 week notice given on a Friday morning, supervisor informs you that the next Monday will be your final day. Company does not have an employee handbook that would normally have the situation outline.

I understand there's no legal obligation to pay the 2 weeks if they end your employment, but as I understand it, this would be termination without cause?

It's a non-issue, just trying to understand how our works. From what I've been able to gather, TWC sees this matter as a resignation if less than our equal to 2 weeks of notice. If more, it could be considered a termination instead of resignation.

It's still a resignation, the company doesn't have to accept the 2 weeks. I would expect your new company to allow you to start early.

quick question about company discretion. one of my counterparts in a different territory (outside sales) put in his two weeks beginning of last month. he was told goodbye that day and that he would get his final commission check after 90 days. i gave my two weeks last monday and was asked to stick around and help with the transition and i would be paid out which i happily did. not that i will communicate any of this to the other rep but it did make me curious if what they did was kosher. 90 days seems like a long time for a last check.

As a side note: this scenario and the right to work environment highlight the reason you need a $1000 emergency fund and 3 months salary in the bank to weather storms.

Regular wages must be paid within 6 calendar days if the employee was terminated. Otherwise, the last check is due when the next pay period comes up. Commissions, bonuses, etc. don't have a deadline unless there's a commission agreement/policy outlined in the employee handbook. So the deadline is determined by whatever version of the handbook he signed on his first day. If there's no policy, TWC cannot enforce anything.

If the commission check was 90 days coming it could have been a company thing, where they didn't want him to bilk the company out of money and have clients cancel orders after he left and got paid but shipment hadn't been made.

Not saying that he would do that, but waiting 90 days ensures the company is paid by XYZ company and all the transaction details are finalized, regardless of what actually occurred.

Just so I understand the above.

If an employer has a requirement in the manual to require two weeks notice, they could fire you for cause if you give less and label you ineligible for rehire without any recourse from the employee.

However, if an employee follows the manual and gives two weeks they screw themselves and the employer can walk them out early without recourse from the employee.