Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts

Two weeks notice given and not accepted

On July 1st, I gave my two weeks notice to leave the company I have been working at for over 3 years. My manager wouldn't let me fill out a seperation notice unless July 1st was to be my last day of work. After some heated coversation she bullied me into leaving that day. Do I get paid for the two weeks I tried to give?? I have tried contacting the District office many times and have not recieved a responce back from them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks


Asked on 7/19/02, 1:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Chris Edelson Chao & Edelson, L.L.C.

Re: Two weeks notice given and not accepted

Most likely you cannot get paid for the 2 weeks' notice you tried to give. Since an employer is generally free to terminate an employee at any time for any reason (with a few exceptions, e.g. can't discriminate), it is likely they could respond to your notice by simply saying "ok, leave now" as they apparently did. Not nice but not likely you can do much about it. There could be something I'm missing --e.g. if you had a contract that applied. Also, I should mention that I pratice in NY (although I'm a member of the Mass. bar), so it's possible there is some Mass. law that might apply with which I am not familiar.

There is one thing I can think of that might have some application, though not sure whether it would be worth looking into. If you told your employer that you wanted to resign as of 7/15 and they said no, go now, your separation might be described as a termination by your employer. The reason I mention this is that it could have consequences for unemployment and severance. But this might be kind of a stretch, especially if (as it sounds like you did), you signed a paper saying you were resigning as of 7/1.

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Answered on 7/19/02, 1:43 pm


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