How to write a notice of termination of an employment contract. In any employment contract, there’s going to be a section that specifically deals with how to terminate the agreement. An agreement can be terminated in one of four ways. One, if it’s a fixed term, so if the contract only lasts for a period, let’s just say it’s two years. If there’s no renewal language, the two years end and it’s not renewed, the contract is over with. You don’t need to notice a termination letter for that. The second way of doing it is through mutual agreement. Both parties, for whatever reason, decide it’s fine, they both want to move on. They can do it at any point without any notice to the other party.
Another way is through breach of contract. And in that scenario, if one party feels the other party is in breach of contract, there generally will be language that states they have to provide them with written notice of what they’re doing wrong, what the breach is. And then usually, there would be cure period. And that just means a period for the party that is breaching the agreement to fix it. Normally, that would be somewhere between 15 to 30 days. And if they fix whatever the issue is during that period, then the other party can’t terminate it immediately. And then the last way, and this is where the provider will write the notice of termination letter is if it’s without cause. In almost any contract, there’s going to be without cause termination, which means either party can terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other.
Normally, somewhere between 30 to 90 days, depending upon the industry. Now, in the notice of termination letter, I find most professionals want to put a long treatise on their grievances with the employer and all the reasons why they’re going to terminate the agreement and all the problems they’ve had. That’s a bad idea. All the professionals should put in the termination notice as per the agreement, I’m terminating the contract via without cause termination section, I’m required to give you 60 days’ notice. My last day of work should be X date, I appreciate the opportunity. That’s it, sign it off. One thing to think about in the contract, it will state it should have something called notice or notices. It’ll state exactly how to provide notice in this scenario. So, if you’re required to provide written notice through a termination letter, that’s going to state how that notice can be given to the employer. Other blogs of interest include:
Most of the time, email is not sufficient, certainly not verbally, fax normally isn’t. Usually, it’s sent via registered certified mail or sometimes overnight hand-delivered, or something like that. And then it will list specifically, here is the address you need to send it to. If a provider or a professional doesn’t follow the notices section, the employer could state, you must stay with us until you give us effective notice. I’ve had a couple of times where I’ve had a professional come to me and say, well, I just told my boss, so I assumed that was the start of the clock of the 30 days. And then they waited until 30 days and said, hey, you never gave us effective notice, you owe us another 30 days. So, make sure you follow that.
There’s no benefit to airing the grievances. Nothing is going to change. If someone is leaving an organization, then just leave. You’re not there to fix whatever the issues are. And, likely, they’re not going to fix it anyway. If you’re at the point where you want to terminate the employment relationship, keep it short and sweet. I’m giving you notice per the agreement; this is how much notice I’m giving you, this will be my last day of work, appreciate the opportunity. That’s it. That’s all you need to do. I know that the inclination is, no I want to put all the reasons why. But there’s honestly no benefit to you. Maybe you’ll create some bad blood. Who knows? Down the road, management changes. The job suddenly turns into a great opportunity, it could circle back around, and you just don’t want to cause any friction where it’s just not necessary. You don’t have to provide justification for why you’re deciding to terminate the agreement without cause. It’s just simply not necessary. So, that’s how you’re going to write a termination letter, short and sweet.
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