Accidently resigned and it was accepted

[Mayhem007]

So I accidently sent an email to my boss resigning 21st June, it was meant to go to my draft with the official 23rd June of resigning. I got a surprisingly email today 22nd June accepting my resignation. I immediately sent an email staing that this was an accidental error. I also pointed out that I was doing work on my day off i.e. 22nd June. Looking at various websites it appears they don't have to legally accept my withdrawal. I did state in my withdrawal that I was under some anxiety and stress for an up anc coming audit (however there is more to this story)

Hoping anybody can give some advice

[atticus]

You need to speak to your employer. I am sure that you will have a good explanation of why you were even thinking of drafting such an email.

Next time you are drafting an email, only enter an email address in the "to" box when you are ready to send.

[PallasAthena]

Although it is true that in general an employee has no legal right to withdraw a resignation there is legal case law that if a resignation is made by accident or in the heat of the moment - sent without a true intention to resign - an employee can withdraw it. ULA may be able to quote you the details about this. You have to act quickly though, but it appears you have done that.

[Mayhem007]

Many thanks for your response.

My email was sent accidently yesterday on the 21st June, however the contenct of my email states the date of resigning on Monday 23rd June. I have resinded my resignation the day before my resignation date.

So I guess they have accepted my resignation 1 day prior to the resignation notification.

There are grounds for contemplating this possibility of resignation and it is predominantly due to an electrical audit on my sites, where I feel I have been somewhat thrown under the bus and it has caused some stress and anxiety [Weirdly given that I am in this situation I will still have to go through the audit]. There is more to this, but I don't wish to bore you with the details at that time

[ULA]

There is no legal right for you to be able to withdraw you resignation and certainly no obligation on the part of an employer to accept the retraction of a resignation. However if you do set out in writing a valid reason for withdrawing your resignation as soon as possible after the resignation error you may have a stronger case which your employer may consider.

Heat of the moment resignations are more generally ones where someone just walks out of the work location on an impulse stating "I'm resigning" and then when the employee reflects on this, wishes to withdraw their resignation. From you what you have said this does not appear to be the case here

[PallasAthena]

Do you think your employer would be sorry or glad to see you go? I've known many employers allow a resignation to be withdrawn because they didn't want to lose the employee. On the the other hand ....

Have you had a resonse yet? Let us know what happens.

To state the bleeding obvious, even when an employer has no obligation to allow you to withdraw a resignation that doesn't mean they can't! It's at their discretion.

[Mayhem007]

Hi all,

So the latest is my boss was in a meeting yesterday. I asked her before the meeting if she could phone me immediately of whether the company considered my withdrawal of the accidental resignation. Unfortunately, she was vey honest and stated she wasn't going to change her mind with the acceptance of the resignation.

In all honesty the outcome was a total shock. Unfortunately, both myself and company are going to be worse off. My absence also creates extra pressure on the remaining technicians and the call outs that we do on a rota. Instead of doing a rota of 1 in 5 weeks rota, this will be 1 and 4 rota for those remaining. Put things in perspective I get on well with all the maintenance technicians. I brought a lot to the business and anybody replacing me will be starting afresh and will have to hit the ground running. At my base there will be no electrical competent personnel, where that should be 2.
.
I have spent 8 hours with my boss today, who is based at a different location; being part of an electrical audit, of my Saffron Walden site with a top senior electrical engineer. The audit based on covering all the points was just short of excellent;

Any way I have to go through the audit process again on Thursday, at one of our remote sites, at Thames.

You guys have said it all and I'm grateful for that. So I'm going to have a chat with her on Thursday to establish where I went wrong. I may have upset her by following procedures and have been less flexible. Unfortunately she is nice woman, but has no engineering skills and comes from an administration back ground of maintenance mangement systems. We have never had a serios bone of contention.

I basically need to find out why she accepted the accidental resignation without some form of dialogue

[atticus]

2 questions:

1. When did you start working for this company?

2. What were your reasons for drafting a resignation?

[echat11]

If you get the opportunity on Thursday , if she is there, maybe you can highlight the issues (like you have here) the business will have when you leave, does she want to run an operation that functions 100% with you there or one that is going to run 80% with more issues for her to resolve. You need to keep selling it to her.

[Mayhem007]

So this is in my contract :

'All notices of termination of employment, whether given by us or by you, must be given in writing.'



This is the email I sent without naming anyone :
From: Me
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2025 4:54 pm
To: My boss by Accident
Subject: latest resignation





It is with some regret that I am handing in my resignation, as of today the 23rd June 2025.



By my reckoning, due to the 6.5 days holiday and one day unpaid holiday, my last day will be on 11th July lunchtime



If the company still wishes me to attend the wiring regulations course, on 1st July, I am more than willing to attend.

Kind regards
My Name
Per Ardua Ad Astra
Through Adversity to the stars

[Mayhem007]

2 questions:

1. When did you start working for this company?

2. What were your reasons for drafting a resignation?

Frustation anxiety and stress, felt I had been thrown under the bus by an up and coming electrical audit. Audit was for 3 different sites I was solely in the audit for 2 sites with my boss and the auditor. Three electricians were in an auditor and with the boss for one site

I am 3 weeks shy of two years

[Mayhem007]

If you get the opportunity on Thursday , if she is there, maybe you can highlight the issues (like you have here) the business will have when you leave, does she want to run an operation that functions 100% with you there or one that is going to run 80% with more issues for her to resolve. You need to keep selling it to her.

You absolutely right she knows the lack of resources the Auditor was fully aware of the up and coming lack of personnel resources, however he could only audit us int he present circumstances. Hwever he did put on his spreadsheet checklist 'resources adequate at the moment'

[Mayhem007]

Frustratingly, I held open the gate after the third audit for her, and she said I was absolutelty brilliant and then drove off. If this means she is considering changing her mind fair enough, if not it was a bitter sweet oral pill that she thrown at me.

[Mayhem007]

Although it is true that in general an employee has no legal right to withdraw a resignation there is legal case law that if a resignation is made by accident or in the heat of the moment - sent without a true intention to resign - an employee can withdraw it. ULA may be able to quote you the details about this. You have to act quickly though, but it appears you have done that.

Yes I looked at that case law and it is more applicable to face to face resignation in the heat of the moment, daresay that case law does not provide for email resignations

[Mayhem007]

I am absolutely perplexed at my bosses refusal to accept my resignation withdrawal. I've never had an informal warning or any other warning. I received an internal email yesterday advertising my job.

I know I recently stated that I wouldn't be working on high voltage equipment, as the company has not provided me with the appropriate PPE.

Given the unusual circumstances am I still allowed to make a SAR.