Resignation procedure?

[northstar555]

Hello former colleagues, I'm an ex postie that used to be on the boards but not been in a long time, hence the 'new' username.(forgot me old login)

I'm after a bit of HR advice for a friend who was until recently a postie. He had 9ish years service, and was involved in a car accident (not at work). He suffers from anxiety and depression (known by RM and under Equality Act 2010). He had a bit of a poor sickness record, but was only on a stage1. The stress of the accident and his depression etc. pushed him over the edge a bit and he was in a pretty bad way. He didn't have his medication, got pissed and sent a text resigning. The line manager sent one back saying he needed it in writing, and it had to be signed. My friend didn't remember sending the text and basically spent 10 days or so on a complete bender. When he got back home, his family contacted RM and explained what had happened and set about trying to sort out the mess. They were told that it had already been processed. He received no voice mail on his phone, no message on his home phone and nothing by way of acceptance/confirmation through the post before a leavers pack turned up. I think RM basically 'got rid' of him on the fast track without following their normal procedure.

Can anyone tell us what 'the normal procedure' would be, time periods etc, would a letter normally be sent, a telephone message left?
It needs to be factually correct please as he was possibly treated differently, so he didn't have a chance to retract his text.

Many thanks in advance to all of you that can offer any advice, especially HR related.

Cheers
John

[northstar555]

Weekend Bump.....

[Stella102]

well surely if your going to resign then you need to put in written resignation, anyone could send a text message of your phone pretending to be you. He may have had his pay stopped due to being AWOL. Something is not right here though, if hes in the union contact the area rep if not then i dont know what to say.

[fishtank]

There are two separate issues which together would give the business a strong case to accept his resignation at face value,the text message followed by a period of unauthorised absence triggered by non contact or alternatively a period of non contact followed by a resignation text message.

There are certain procedures detailed in the Unauthorised Absence Guide which you would need to source from HR starting with a Day One Letter:No Contact but basically the manager should make several attempts to contact the member before registering the absence as unauthorised and stopping pay.

Although managers would always be encouraged to have resignations confirmed in writing that isn't always possible,some people will verbally tell management to stick it and walk away and there isn't much the business can do.

It is possible if it could be shown that management made absolutely no attempt to have this confirmed that this would play in the members favour at an Employment Tribunal but proving that against an admitted track record of non contact would in my opinion be difficult.

Personally I think a more profitable direction would be to focus on the employee's condition which was known to both the manager and the business and the general lack of care shown
throughout the entire absence including the resignation process.

[northstar555]

Thanks for your advice guys, it's much appreciated.

Cheers.