{"id":373,"date":"2016-07-07T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T23:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/?page_id=373"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:52:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:52:52","slug":"voluntary-termination","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/ending-employment\/voluntary-termination\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntary Termination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A voluntary termination occurs when an employee gives notice of resignation. The information below provides the resignation letter requirement, end employment checklists, and other useful information for processing a voluntary termination.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"resignation-letter-requirement\">Resignation Letter Requirement<\/h4>\n<p>All University of Washington staff and student employees are required to submit a written letter of resignation when voluntarily separating from University employment.<\/p>\n<p>Resignation letters are a formal starting point for completing offboarding steps, including exit checklists, final pay\/leave issues, and returning University property.<\/p>\n<p>Employees in fixed term or project-based positions whose established end date remains unchanged do not need to submit a resignation letter. However, employees who intend to vacate their position prior to the agreed-upon end date must submit a written resignation.<\/p>\n<h5>Contents of the Resignation Letter<\/h5>\n<p>The resignation letter should include the following information:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Statement of intent to resign<\/strong> from the University of Washington.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Employee name, position title, and unit\/department.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Effective date of resignation<\/strong>, including the<strong> last day worked<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reason for leaving<\/strong> (e.g., retirement, accepting another position). Include enough detail to support UW\u2019s verification of information provided to the Employment Security Department, which helps to expedite any unemployment claims that may file be filed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Name of the new employer<\/strong> if moving to another state agency, providing this information supports<a href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/time-absence\/staff-time-off\/prior-washington-state-service-credit-and-transfer-between-state-of-washington-employers\/\"> transfer of months of service toward a higher vacation accrual rate and time off, if eligible<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>How to Submit the Resignation Letter<\/h5>\n<p>The letter may be submitted to your manager with a copy to the unit administrator (HR\/Academic Partner) as a separate document or in an email.<\/p>\n<p>Campus employees who hold the HR\/Academic Partner role are responsible for initiating the <a href=\"https:\/\/employeehelp.workday.uw.edu\/user-guides\/term_vol_sc\/\">Workday termination business process<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/employeehelp.workday.uw.edu\/user-guides\/maintain_worker_documents\/\">uploading the resignation letter<\/a> into Workday once written notice is received. The Maintain Worker Document step fires to the HR and Academic Partner on the Termination business process.<\/p>\n<h5>When to Submit the Resignation Letter<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Professional staff, contract covered staff, classified staff and student employees: At least two weeks\u2019 notice is strongly encouraged. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/labor\/unions\">UW labor contracts<\/a> may also include specific resignation provisions such as ability to withdraw a resignation within 24 hours.<\/li>\n<li>Faculty and academic personnel: Should follow the information outlined on the <a href=\"https:\/\/ap.washington.edu\/ahr\/actions\/terminations\/\">Office of Academic Personnel and Faculty\u2019s Separations webpage<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Employees are encouraged to provide notice as early as possible to support effective workforce planning and a smooth transition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uwhr-toc-top-btn\"><a href=\"#toc\">Return to top<\/a><\/p><h4 id=\"ending-employment-checklists\">Ending employment checklists<\/h4>\n<p>The checklists below list the responsibilities of the departing employee and of the employee\u2019s supervisor (or department), when an employee resigns.<\/p>\n<p>Select and complete\u00a0the appropriate checklist to ensure that all required end of employment actions are completed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"uwhr-form  \" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/07\/ending-employment-checklist-campus-staff-20260312.pdf\">Ending Employment Checklist (campus) (PDF)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"uwhr-form  \" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/07\/transferring-employee-checklist-campus-staff-20240426.pdf\">Transferring Employee Checklists (campus) (PDF)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"uwhr-form  \" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/07\/hmc-employee-separation-checklist-20260319-a11y.pdf\">Employee Separation Checklist (HMC only) (PDF)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"uwhr-form  \" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/07\/uwmc-employee-separation-checklist-20260319.pdf\">Employee Separation Checklist (UWMC and Shared Services) (PDF)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"uwhr-toc-top-btn\"><a href=\"#toc\">Return to top<\/a><\/p><h4 id=\"retention-counter-offer\">Retention Counter Offer<\/h4>\n<p>If a professional staff employee has received a competitive job offer from outside UW and you would like to make a counter offer, your HR\u00a0consultant can help you work with the Compensation office to respond with a retention strategy. Review the <a href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/comp\/professional-staff\/position-and-salary-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Position and Salary Review page<\/a> under the In-Grade section for additional information on the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uwhr-toc-top-btn\"><a href=\"#toc\">Return to top<\/a><\/p><h4 id=\"giving-an-employment-reference\">Giving an employment reference<\/h4>\n<p>Review information about <a href=\"http:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/policies\/providing-work-references-to-prospective-employers\/\">providing employment references<\/a> for a current or former employee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uwhr-toc-top-btn\"><a href=\"#toc\">Return to top<\/a><\/p><h4 id=\"requests-to-rescind-a-resignation\">Requests to rescind a resignation<\/h4>\n<p>Occasionally an employee will request to rescind a resignation. Some labor contracts provide for a period during which an employee who has resigned may rescind the resignation. A professional staff employee rescinding a resignation requires approval of the employing official.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uwhr-toc-top-btn\"><a href=\"#toc\">Return to top<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review the ending employment checklist or the transferring positions checklist to ensure that all required actions are completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":49,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-373","page","type-page","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","search_bucket-page"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Voluntary Termination - HR Operations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/ops\/ending-employment\/voluntary-termination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voluntary Termination - 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