Leaving a job while furloughed/locked out

Question

With the mass furlough of hundreds of thousands of U.S. government workers (and probably an equal number or more of contractor employees), I'd think at least some of these folks may use the time off to pursue other options. This seems an unprecedented situation for which there are no accepted practices I'm aware of. I expect this is so unprecedented that laws and employment agreements do not cover the situation (while not one of those furloughed, I'm certain the employment documents I signed when I took my current job do not address this situation).

For someone who finds a new job, but is still furloughed indefinitely, how can they go about resigning from their current job when they may be prohibited from contacting their boss? Would their furlough time count as part of their notice period (usually two weeks, minimum), at least from the time they submitted their resignation? Or would they be required to spend two weeks (or whatever notice period is required) in their old job once the furlough ends? Can they start at their new job immediately, perhaps with the understanding that they'd need to go back to the previous job temporarily once the government "shutdown" ends? Also, how would personal property be obtained from the work site when the person might be locked out of that work site?

Answer 1

For most people in the USA with a "regular" job - paying a salary, what the people in the job call a permanent job but the employers never do - you have no legal obligations whatsoever to stay in your job or to give any notice. If you want, you can just stop coming to work. You won't be paid for the days you weren't there, but so what? In fact many firms have rules about what they'll do if you just stop coming in - for example they'll assume you're taking vacation at first, and you may earn a paycheque for the first few days or weeks you're away. Eventually they will deem you to have quit. You probably won't get a great reference, but you're not going to get sued or charged with anything.

Obviously, if you have a written contract that says you will do something, such as giving notice, then you must do so the first chance you get, or suffer whatever the penalty is in the contract. In this situation I would tell my new employer that there was a small chance I would need to spend 2 weeks (not paid by the new employer) working out my notice at my old employer when the furlough ended, and I would make sure the new employer was ok with it. Since most employers would rather you not work your notice, I'm quite sure if you emailed or called your boss the first day back to say you quit, they would tell you not to come in and just do the paperwork.

In the absence of such a written contract you are risking two things: you might not be allowed into the building to claim any personal possessions left behind when the furlough started, and you might not have a claim for back pay. Apparently these things tend end with everyone getting paid for the time they didn't work, but if you have moved on you might not be eligible.

If those don't worry you, go ahead and look for different work. I've had people that I laid off temporarily go and find new work while laid off. I understand it's one of the risks of laying them off.

Answer 2

Executive Summary

Check your contract. Look for the following items:

1. What is required to terminate the agreement?
2. What are the consequences for terminating the agreement prematurely?
3. What language, if any, covers unexpected events like this furlough?

^{I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. The goal of this information is to provide guidance on where to look to find what is written yourself and is not meant to be a substitute for proper legal advice.}

Termination Clause

Most contracts will have a whole section discussing how the contract can be terminated (though important information can be hidden in the rest of the contract). Most employment contracts are relatively one-sided (the employer has a lot more rights to terminate the contract than the employee).

Look carefully through this section to see what the process is for the employee to terminate. Things like:

1. Can the employee terminate for cause? (For instance, if the employee is not paid, are they allowed to terminate the agreement?)
2. What is the notice period?
3. Does the notice period start from notification or from receipt of the notice?

Early Termination

If you terminate early, what consequences (if any) does the contract say you have? For instance, some employment contracts may state that training expenses, or relocation expenses have to be reimbursed to company if the agreement is terminated early. Go through the contract and make sure there are no hidden traps if you do leave the agreement. While these should be in the termination clause, lawyers love to make things confusing for laymen reading them and may hide this wording somewhere else in the contract.

The point is that you want to know what will happen if you just get up and leave in the worst-case scenario.

Force Majeure/Furlough

See if your contract specifically addresses the possibility of furloughs and how they are handled. There is the possibility that these are hidden under a section about Force Majeure which often includes government action. If there is a section describing this, it may explain whether you will be given back pay, or what your rights are to leave, etc.

If this isn't covered in the contract anywhere, there is a possibility that the company is in breach of contract, though you should consult with a lawyer to be certain.

Suggestion

If you determine that notice is required, I would mail a resignation letter to your office. If you send it registered mail, nobody will be at the office to receive it I assume, so that probably isn't a great way, but at least you will have a post mark and a dated resignation letter waiting on your boss' desk when he gets back.

If receipt of notice is required, you are kind of stuck. As mentioned you may want to contact your new employer, explain the situation (2 weeks is required after receipt of notice, but nobody is around to receive notice), and hopefully they will understand and be willing to wait.

In all past shutdowns, employees received back pay after the shutdown was ended. If you resign during the shutdown, you should be willing to forgo that back pay in a worst-case scenario. Also realize that, despite the extraordinary circumstances, this will cause a strain on your coworkers who have to catch up on weeks of work and are short-handed. While they may understand the reason you are doing it, don't expect them to be happy about it.

Answer 3

The below assumes you are in the US.

When they may be prohibited from contacting their boss

I never heard of this..... Of course you can contact you boss. It not like you have a restraining order, What are they going to do Fire you?

That said, you are NOT reqierd to give two weeks notice, its a professional courtesy.

If they are currently paying you, or plan to back-pay you: Send an email (or call) your boss with giving them 2 weeks notice, you should expect to paid for those 2 weeks.

If they are NOT paying you, and don't plan to back-pay you: Send an email (or call) your boss with your resignation effective immediately, stating you have bills to pay and need to earn money to pay them. To do so you have accepted another job and will be starting immediately,