"I'm done with it!" 😤

It sometimes happens that an employee shouts ‘I'm done with it’. That this cannot automatically be seen as resignation is proven by a decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal dated 7 May 2024 and the interlocutory decision that preceded it.

Again, an employee cried out that ‘he was done with it’. The employer took this seriously and during a conversation with HR, the employee indicated that he needed to think about whether he would stick to this position. During a conversation the following day, the employee indicated that he was ‘sick of recent times’. Employer did not accept this sick report and demanded that employee give a ruling the next day. When the employee also started talking about a settlement agreement, employer apparently had had enough and handed the employee a letter with the subject line ‘Confirmation of dismissal at own request’.

In this case too, both the subdistrict court and the court of appeal held that merely shouting that an employee is done with it does not constitute unequivocal termination of the employment contract. Once again, it appears that if an employee has had it for a while, the employer really needs to start the conversation and if that conversation does not lead to a termination of the employment contract, the employer cannot then argue that there was an own dismissal after all. Especially if emotions are running high, the employer would be well advised to take a time out; not to start the conversation until the next day; and if the employee still wants to resign, to explain in writing the consequences of such a resignation. If the employee then still stands by his position even after that, you can speak of an unequivocal resignation.

Should you have any questions following the above, please contact one of our employment specialists: Dennis Oud, Tessa Sipkema, or Elke Hofman.

Read the statements here: https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2023:3091 and https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:1238