{"id":8193,"date":"2025-04-16T01:03:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T01:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/us\/?post_type=resources&p=8193"},"modified":"2026-06-26T05:28:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:28:06","slug":"getting-voluntary-terminations-right","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/us\/resources\/hr-compliance\/getting-voluntary-terminations-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask our experts: Getting voluntary terminations right"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written by: <\/p>\n\n\n

Rena Pirsos<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Share<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although all employers confront voluntary terminations, managing them<\/a> is not always a snap. Ask Our Experts recently answered the below questions. Chances are you have some of the same ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working through vs paying for notice periods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Q<\/strong>: When an employee provides formal notice of resignation, can we separate them early?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No law requires employees to provide notice of voluntary termination; doing so is merely a custom or courtesy. That’s because most states are generally considered to be at-will employment states, which means that either the employer or employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, unless a written employment contract or collective bargaining agreement says otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While notice periods allow employers to organize the details of the termination, having the employee hang around until their notice period is up can create problems. The employee may slack off at work or drag down the morale of employees who are staying. As a result, many employers pay employees for the full notice period and have them leave early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But paying an employee for their full notice period isn’t the end of the story. There are two other scenarios that must be considered: whether you offer the employee the option to leave early, and they voluntarily accept this option; or whether you require the employee to terminate earlier than the full period provided in their resignation notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at both scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n