Do they have the right to set the work period to 19 days? How to correctly write a letter of resignation with two weeks of work

Many working citizens are concerned about the rather pressing question of whether they need to work 2 weeks upon dismissal. After all, this is often required by law. But not everyone knows that 2-week work is not always required. In some cases, this period is much shorter, and sometimes it is not required at all.

What circumstances force you to work?

As the Labor Code indicates, a person who wants to resign of his own free will must work for a set period, namely 14 days, so that the manager has the opportunity to find a new employee during this time. To do this, he will need to write a letter of resignation and submit it to the employer for review later than two weeks in advance. However, if the director does not need this person for work, he may allow him to leave work without this.

Workout is not mandatory unless management requires it.

14 days is the minimum established period; it may be a month or less at the initiative of the director of the organization or due to appropriate circumstances.

For these groups of people, the duration of work is three days:

• workers on probation;
• seasonal workers;
• citizens with a time-limited employment contract.

In the event that an employee, while on paid leave or sick leave, expresses a desire to leave his place of work, his work will already be credited. Only he must notify his superiors about this no longer than 2 weeks before the end of the vacation.

Also, working off may not be mandatory if the employee and his director mutually agree on dismissal and draw up a written agreement. It must indicate the date of leaving the place of work, and the process of working off in this case is excluded.

If a working citizen, wanting to cancel the employment contract of his own free will, does not want to work for the established period, then he is obliged to make this request to the manager. Only on the basis of a written statement (resolution) signed by the authorities, it is possible to legally exclude the work. If you don’t work out what will be spelled out in Article 80 of the Labor Code of Russia. Paragraph 3 of the commentary to the article says that refusal to work off work is considered a violation of work order and can lead to dismissal for absenteeism.

When an employee has the right not to work

Two-week work can be ignored by an employee if:

• the manager has violated any of the provisions of the current legislation and there is documented evidence of this;
• the worker is forced to leave his place of work due to current circumstances.

The current legislation of 2017 includes the following circumstances forcing resignation:

• Retirement on state support due to old age. A pensioner is not required by law to work a 14-day period after dismissal;
• Enrollment in an educational institution;
• Conscription for military service in the ranks of the state army;
• If there is a child who has not reached maturity;
• Pregnancy, when a woman cannot continue to work due to her condition;
• Moving, even if it is under the pretext of changing the spouse’s place of residence.

If the question arises, do I have the right to quit without working for two weeks, the answer will be in the affirmative if you belong to the above categories of citizens. In such cases, you don’t have to go to work, starting from the next day after submitting your application. However, the employee will need to provide evidence in the form of official documents. This could be a certificate from an educational institution, documents for a pension, a child’s birth certificate proving his young age, a medical certificate, etc.

If a person does not belong to these categories, but still does not want to work, he can negotiate this with his superiors or apply for leave during vacation time. Leaving work by mutual agreement of both parties does not require work and provides the opportunity to leave at any desired time.

When leaving a place of work, regardless of whether there was work done or not, the employer must, on the day of leaving:

• Give the employee a salary for the period worked;
• Pay for vacation if it has not yet been taken;
• Provide compensation if this is regulated by the contract.

Each of us has faced dismissal at least once in our lives. Many questions always arise about this, and one of them is dismissal with two weeks of work. Is it necessary to work two weeks when leaving voluntarily? Is it legal for an employer to require time off upon dismissal on his initiative? Are there categories of citizens for whom work is not required? We will talk about this and much more in this article.

Two-week work: withdrawal of resignation letter and search for a new employee

In most cases, the dismissal of an employee confronts the organization with the question of who will now do the work. In some cases, a replacement for an employee is found very quickly among his own employees. The same question does not arise in case of dismissal as a result of reduction. But still, many employers are forced to spend time searching for new employees. The loss of such leading employees as chief accountants, corporate lawyers, etc. is especially acute. That is why the state has legally established mandatory two-week work. During these two weeks, the heads of organizations are given a chance to find a new employee, bring him up to date, transfer the affairs of the resigning employee and not be left without a head.

The benefits of this work also exist for the employee leaving at his own discretion. A two-week period for him means the opportunity not to rush into action, but to consciously approach such a decision, since this period allows him to thoroughly analyze the situation, look for a new job, and also provides the opportunity to cancel his resignation letter. In order to do this, you must contact the personnel service to withdraw this application. In this case, it is necessary to draw up a statement of revocation and submit it to the personnel officer.

Important! During the two-week work period, an employee who changes his mind about quitting may be refused to withdraw his application. In this case, dismissal is inevitable.

Such actions by the employer are quite legal, since during this time the company could have attracted a new employee, concluded an agreement with him, and most likely already paid off the old one and formalized his dismissal.

Work upon dismissal at one's own request

Work is not slavery, so any citizen can always quit of his own free will. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a resigning employee must notify the employer two weeks before the end of his employment in a particular organization. However, labor legislation does not exclude the possibility of not working the required two weeks if a certain agreement is reached with the employer.

Important! Such an agreement should still be documented. It will come in handy if you have to participate in a trial.

Work off upon dismissal at the initiative of the employer

The employer can fire you at will. This development of events often occurs in the following cases:

1. During the probationary period, the employee failed to cope with the work assigned to him;
2. The employee systematically skips work;
3. Reduction of workforce;
4. End of a fixed-term employment contract, etc.

Important! In some cases, the employer may offer to resign voluntarily, but this is not always worth doing. For example, if you are laid off by writing a resignation letter of your own free will, you will lose severance pay in the amount of your average monthly salary.

So, all of the above cases do not imply two-week work. However, the employer is obliged to inform about his decision in advance, so days of further work can be considered working off. Another question is how long before the proposed dismissal the employer must do this. The answer to this question is presented in the table below.

As can be seen from the table, two-week work is not required upon dismissal at the initiative of the employer.

Exceptions when working the required two weeks

As mentioned earlier, employees who resign on their own must work for the required period, with the exception of persons who were able to come to an agreement with the company’s management. However, there are several categories of citizens who are exempt from working without the need to negotiate with their superiors. Such citizens include:

1. Pregnant women and women on maternity leave;
2. Employees on a probationary period (the period of probation is three days);
3. Military personnel called up for military service;
4. Employees of retirement age;
5. Students enrolled in secondary or higher education institutions, etc.

Countdown of the two-week period

The countdown of days worked begins not from the day the resignation letter is written, as is commonly believed. According to the law, a two-week work period begins the next day after the manager of the resigning employee has read the application. In this case, the manager must put his visa on the application - a transcript of the signature, signature and date of review. Next, the application is transferred to the personnel department to issue an order and search for a new employee.

Work including holidays and weekends

Another question that worries many is the counting of days of work, if it falls on holidays and weekends.

The Labor Code states that an employee must work the required period within 14 calendar days. Thus, knowing that calendar days can also include holidays, the employee must count a two-week period according to the calendar, regardless of holidays or weekends.

Answers to frequently asked questions

Question N1: Good afternoon! A couple of weeks ago I submitted my resignation letter. The manager signed it and transferred it to the personnel department, after which I almost immediately fell ill and went on sick leave. I was sick just these two weeks. Do I need to work two weeks beyond the time I was sick?

Answer: Hello! In the event that you wrote a letter of resignation of your own free will, and then went on sick leave and stayed on it for two weeks, then there is no need for you to work an additional two weeks beyond those that you were sick. This is due to the fact that Russian legislation has established a working period of 2 calendar weeks. According to the explanation of Rostrud, which was presented in letter N1551-6 dated September 5, 2006, the working period may include weekends and holidays. In addition, working off may include sick days or days of regular annual paid leave or administrative leave without pay.

How long must an employee work when leaving voluntarily? As a general rule, 2 weeks. It is within this period that the employee is obliged to notify the employer in writing of the termination of the employment contract on his own initiative.

How do you count 14 days upon dismissal? As stated in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the specified period begins on the day following the day the employer receives an application for dismissal from the employee (Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Let's look at a specific example of how 14 days of work is calculated.

Appraiser Pogodin M.V. submitted his resignation letter on January 17, 2017. Then he will start working for 2 weeks on January 18, 2017, and his last day of work will be January 31, 2017.

Please note that an employer can fire an employee earlier without requiring him to work for 2 weeks. This issue is resolved by agreement between the employee and the management of the organization.

Exceptions to the rule

How many days must an employee work upon dismissal if he decides to terminate the employment contract during the probationary period? For such cases, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for a shorter working period - only 3 days (Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, in some cases, the employer must completely dismiss the employee on the day he indicated in his application without any work off. This applies to those leaving:

• old age pensioners;
• employees enrolled in an educational organization;

Dismissal with 2 weeks of work: how to calculate taking into account holidays

Another pressing question is how to count two weeks of work upon dismissal if they cover holidays. For example, an employee notified his employer of his planned dismissal on December 28, 2016. Accordingly, all New Year's holidays were included in the working period (Article 112 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Does it need to be extended now?

In accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a period calculated in calendar weeks includes non-working days and expires on the last day of the corresponding week of the period (Article 14 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, there are no special rules in the Code stating that the employee must work the specified 14 days before dismissal - not be on vacation, not be sick, etc. (

Few employees are surprised by the need to work off when they are fired. But disputes often arise with the calculation of the last day of work. Find out how to correctly calculate working hours, taking into account weekends and holidays, and what date to start and end the counting.

Read our article:

Dismissal with 2 weeks of work: how to calculate

Issues related to termination of the contract are regulated by Art. 80 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Working off a resigning employee depends only on the wishes of the employer; the period may vary, but should not exceed two weeks.

A reduced period is established for a person. It is only 3 calendar days (Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). And employees resigning due to retirement or enrollment in an educational institution can leave on the day of filing the application (Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Please note that in this case, the application must indicate the reason and attach relevant documents confirming the need for urgent care.

You should be very careful about dismissal and retirement. For this reason, a person, therefore, before starting the procedure, it is worth checking the employee’s work book for the presence of such records.

In what cases is it necessary to work 14 days?

Whether or not the leaving person receives a job is determined by the company. If there is a need for the presence of this particular employee at this particular period of time, then work-off cannot be avoided. There are no legal reasons for release from work, only the good will of the employer.

Is there any specific form of writing established? An example application will allow you to correctly draw up the document and prevent misunderstandings with your superiors.

The first step to quitting

Writing a resignation letter of your own free will is usually not difficult. The greatest difficulty is calculating the date from which they want to quit. If we turn to the Labor Code, it says that the employee must notify his superiors about leaving within the two-week period established by law.

That is, if a worker wants to be fired at the beginning of the month, the completed resignation request must be submitted to the personnel service in the middle of the previous month.

Otherwise, there are no special requirements for writing an application.

The completed document must contain the following information:

• name of company;
• Full name of the boss to whom the document is addressed;
• Full name and position of the person wishing to resign;
• basis of care;

The signature of the party who wished to terminate the employment relationship and the date the document was written must be affixed. It is not necessary to indicate the reasons why the employee decided to leave.

The manager is obliged to accept the document provided by the employee, since dismissal is the legal right of the worker. However, in some cases, the boss, who does not want to lose a reasonable specialist, opposes this in every possible way. Then it is necessary to send a request for dismissal by registered mail.

For reference! Some workers believe that these 14 days must be worked off. This reserve of time is given so that the manager can find a replacement for those leaving without interruption in work. An employee can only be on staff, but be on sick leave or on vacation.

Samples of completed applications

The law allows you to write an application in free form, by hand or in printed form.

Some organizations use certain forms where all that remains is to write the text of the reason for leaving, and the information about who the form is addressed to has already been filled out.

A sample application for resignation at one's own request could look like this.

Example document.

The form is also drawn up in free form, an example of it could be like this.

An application written by hand by an employee has the same legal force as a printed version.

The secretary or human resources department must accept the document and familiarize the employer with it. If he agrees, he makes a note on the application itself that it is necessary to issue an order according to the date specified by the person resigning.

Interesting! A worker who has formalized his desire to resign on paper can withdraw it before the date of dismissal and continue to work further.

When is it not necessary to wait 14 days before dismissal?

The employment relationship can be terminated without the notorious 2 weeks. This can be done if the manager does not mind, and also for a number of the following reasons:

• full-time enrollment in an educational institution;
• family circumstances;
• expiration of the contract;
• non-compliance with the employment contract by management.

In this case, it is better to indicate the reason for dismissal and document the specified facts.

Some organizations stipulate in employment contracts conditions under which they reduce the time to search for employees, for example, to 5 days. In addition, reducing the two-week period to 3 days is possible in the following situations:

• carrying out work activities during a probationary period;
• if the work is carried out seasonally;
• the employment agreement was concluded for less than 2 months.

But there are cases when the period can, on the contrary, be increased. This applies to those workers who occupy leadership positions.

The desire to resign on personal initiative can be formalized using the sample yourself or you can ask for help from a competent specialist. Whether it is necessary to work 14 days must be decided by the manager, unless there are grounds that allow the resigning employee to leave immediately. In any case, if a worker’s rights are violated, it is possible to seek help from the Labor Inspectorate or the court.