Resignation letter with notice

A resignation letter is one of the shortest documents you will ever write and one of the hardest to undo. Once it reaches your employer you generally cannot take it back. That is why this letter is deliberately plain: it gives a date, it offers a handover, and it asks for the money and paperwork you are owed. Everything you might be tempted to add, every grievance and every parting observation, belongs somewhere else.

Before any of that, one warning that matters more than the rest of this page. Do not resign to escape a disciplinary process. Resigning generally ends any unfair dismissal claim you might have had, and a person who resigns is generally not able to claim unemployment benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, which was set up under the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001 and pays out where employment ends at the employer's hand rather than the employee's. If you are under disciplinary pressure, or you are being pushed towards the door, get advice before you write anything.

What this document does and when to use it

This letter does one legal thing: it gives notice. Notice is the period between telling your employer you are leaving and actually leaving, and both your contract and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 set a minimum. Where the two differ, the longer applies. The notice period calculator works yours out and what the notice period is when you resign explains the rules.

Everything else in the letter is housekeeping done at the only moment you still have leverage, which is while you are still an employee. Accrued leave, a certificate of service, your final payslip, your fund details, confirmation that company property came back. All of it is easier to obtain in the two weeks before you leave than in the two months after.

Use it when you have already decided, you know your notice period, and you are leaving on ordinary terms. Do not use it when you are being pushed out, when a disciplinary hearing is pending, or when you feel you have no choice but to go.

Before you send it: get these facts straight

Your notice period. Read your contract, then check it against the statutory minimum, remembering that the longer of the two applies. A letter giving short notice can leave you owing money.

Your actual last working day. Count the notice forward from the day you will hand the letter over and write that date in. Never write "one month from now", because the reader will work it out differently from you.

Your accrued leave. Take it from your payslip or leave record, not from memory. The leave payout calculator helps, and whether you get paid for unused leave explains when it is payable.

Anything else you are owed. Commission, expense claims, a bonus your contract actually provides for. If it is not in the letter it will not be in the final payment.

Your restraint of trade, if you have one. Read the clause before you resign, not after you have signed with a competitor.

Whether you are certain. If your answer involves the word "unbearable", stop and get advice instead.

Walking through it, paragraph by paragraph

The address block carries your name, job title and employee number, and then your personal email address rather than your work one. Your work account closes on your last day, and the final payslip and tax certificate often arrive after that.

Paragraph 1 is the resignation itself: "I resign from my position as [YOUR JOB TITLE] at [EMPLOYER'S FULL LEGAL NAME], with effect from the date of this letter." One sentence, no reasons. You are not required to give a reason and you gain nothing by giving one.

Paragraph 2 sets the notice and the date. "My notice period is [NUMBER] [WEEKS OR MONTHS] in terms of [MY CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT DATED [DATE], OR THE BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT 75 OF 1997]. My last working day will accordingly be [LAST WORKING DAY]." Naming the source shows you checked, and stating the actual date removes any later argument about when you were meant to stop.

Paragraph 3 commits you to working the notice. One line, and it protects you. An employee who announces they are leaving and then stops showing up can be disciplined and can lose the notice pay.

Paragraph 4 offers the handover and lists what it covers, from open files and keys to client contacts and system access. Offer it in writing whether or not anybody takes you up on it. If a dispute over your final money follows, a documented handover offer is worth more than a good reference.

Paragraph 5 is the request list, the part most resignation letters leave out entirely. It asks for the final salary to the last working day, payment for accrued and untaken leave with "a written statement of how the leave payment has been worked out", any other amount due, "a certificate of service, which the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 requires an employer to give an employee on termination of employment", the final payslip and tax certificate, and what happens to your pension or provident fund. Ask for all of it in one numbered list, and you have a document to point back to if any of it goes missing.

Paragraph 6 deals with company property and asks for written confirmation it was received. Unreturned equipment is the most common reason a final payment is held back, and a signed acknowledgement ends that argument before it starts.

Paragraph 7 is the thank you, short and true, with permission to delete it. Paragraph 8 asks for written acknowledgement. The receipt block at the foot is your proof of delivery if you hand the letter over on paper.

A worked example

This example is illustrative only and the facts are invented.

Lerato Dube is a bookkeeper at a small logistics company in Boksburg, starting a new job on 1 August. Her contract gives one calendar month's notice, which is longer than the statutory minimum for her length of service, so one month applies.

She hands the letter over on 27 June, making her last working day 27 July. She writes that date into paragraph 2 rather than the words "one month". Her leave record shows eleven and a half accrued days, so paragraph 5.2 asks for payment of eleven and a half days and a written statement of the calculation. She adds a line at 5.3 for two outstanding expense claims totalling R1 850, because she knows they will otherwise be forgotten, and lists a laptop, an access card and a fuel card in paragraph 6.

She emails the letter to her manager, copies human resources and prints the sent email. Her manager asks her to leave two weeks early, and she replies asking for written confirmation that she will still be paid to 27 July. She gets it before she stops working, and that reply is the reason her final payslip is correct.

The mistakes that make one of these useless

Resigning to avoid a disciplinary hearing. This is the costliest mistake on the page. It usually ends any unfair dismissal claim and generally forfeits unemployment benefits, and it does it in exchange for very little. Get advice before you choose it.

Putting your grievances in the letter. This document sits in your personnel file and gets read by whoever handles your reference. Complaints belong in a separate grievance letter to your employer, lodged while you are still employed.

Giving the wrong notice period. Using the statutory minimum when your contract says three months can leave you owing the employer money.

Resigning with immediate effect. Walking out on the day is a breach of contract unless the employer agrees, in writing, to waive the notice.

Leaving the money list out. Accrued leave, commission, the certificate of service and the fund paperwork are far harder to extract once you are a former employee with no email access.

Keeping no proof of delivery. A resignation takes effect when it reaches the employer. If you cannot show it arrived, an employer can treat your absence as desertion.

How to deliver or file it and prove you did

Email it to your manager and copy human resources, then forward the sent email to your personal address. If you deliver it on paper, take two copies and have the receipt block signed and dated on the copy you keep.

The delivery date starts the notice period, so it needs to be provable. Do not leave the letter on a desk, do not send it through a colleague, and do not resign only by voice note or in a meeting.

Then keep working. If the employer asks you to leave before your last working day, ask in writing for confirmation that you will still be paid for the full notice period. If you want to leave early, ask in writing and wait for a written answer. Before your last day, ask for the certificate of service and your final payslip while you are still on the premises.

If it does not work

If your final money is short, or the certificate of service never arrives, a Department of Employment and Labour office deals with complaints about basic conditions of employment, including outstanding pay, leave pay and a certificate of service, and it costs nothing. If the employer will not release your pension or provident fund paperwork, go to the fund administrator directly, because your membership is with the fund and not with your employer.

If you resigned under pressure and now believe you had no real choice, the claim is constructive dismissal, it goes to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), and the 30 calendar day deadline runs from the date the employment ended. It is a hard claim, because you have to prove the employer made continued employment intolerable. Read what constructive dismissal is, use the CCMA deadline calculator and act quickly rather than perfectly.

Free advice comes from trade unions, university law clinics, the CCMA itself for people running their own matters, and Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110, which applies a means test.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this article is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim from the Unemployment Insurance Fund if I resign?

Generally no. Unemployment benefits under the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001 are aimed at people whose employment ended at the employer's hand, through dismissal, retrenchment or the end of a contract. How to claim UIF after being retrenched sets out the position where it does apply, and the UIF benefits calculator gives an idea of the amounts.

Can I withdraw my resignation?

Once it has reached your employer, you generally cannot withdraw it unless the employer agrees. Ask immediately and in writing if you have changed your mind, but do not count on it.

My employer says I must work three months but my contract says one.

State the period from your contract or the statutory minimum, whichever is longer, and nothing more. If the employer insists on longer than either allows, ask in writing for the term they rely on.

Do I have to give a reason for leaving?

No. Paragraph 1 gives none, deliberately. An exit interview is your choice, but it does not belong in the letter.

What is a certificate of service and why does it matter?

It is a short document confirming who you are, what you did and when you worked there. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 requires an employer to give one on termination, future employers ask for it, and it is much easier to obtain before your last day.

I am being pushed to resign. What should I do first?

Do not sign anything on the day you are asked to. Ask for whatever is being put to you in writing, and get advice from a union representative, a law clinic or an attorney before you respond.