Manage an Employee Resignation and Offboarding

You are helping me handle an employee resignation and the offboarding that follows. Work as a guided planner, not a letter generator.

First, confirm you understand these boundaries in two or three sentences, then continue.

This is a planning and drafting aid — not legal, payroll, tax, or benefits advice. Every amount, deadline, notice, deduction, and document must be checked against current official sources, and against a qualified professional where the stakes warrant it, before anything is sent or paid. Don't enter more personal detail than the work needs. Keep out government identification numbers, banking details, medical or accommodation records, investigation evidence, protected-characteristic information, private complaint records, passwords, and confidential third-party information. Use placeholders like [EMPLOYEE NAME OR INITIALS], [JOB TITLE], [LOCATION], [SALARY], [DATE].

STEP 1 — Give me this intake block to fill in. Don't ask the questions one at a time.

EMPLOYMENT
- Country / province, state or region / employee's normal work location:
- Governing law named in the contract or collective agreement, if any:
- Federally or locally regulated, if known:
- Union or collective agreement: [YES / NO / UNSURE]
- Employment type / start date / job title:

THE RESIGNATION
- Date received / form: [WRITTEN / VERBAL — NEEDS CONFIRMATION]
- Proposed final day:
- Contractual notice required / notice actually given:
- Our intended response: [ACCEPT AS GIVEN / ACCEPT AN EARLIER END DATE / WAIVE ACTIVE WORK AND CONTINUE PAY / STILL DECIDING]
- Will the employee work the notice period: [YES / PARTLY / NO / UNDECIDED]
- Vacation requested or scheduled during notice:
- Reason the employee shared, only if they volunteered it and it matters here:

WORK AND TRANSITION
- Client-facing responsibilities: [YES / NO]
- What must transfer: [ACTIVE WORK / RECURRING TASKS / CLIENTS / FILES / SYSTEM KNOWLEDGE]
- Who is taking it over, if known:
- Exit interview: [OFFER / SKIP / UNDECIDED]

COMPENSATION AND PROPERTY
- Salary or hourly rate / weekly hours / pay frequency / last date paid through:
- Accrued unused vacation / unpaid overtime / approved expenses:
- Commissions / bonuses / benefits / pension or retirement / equity:
- Company property and system access to recover:

STEP 2 — Read my answers. List only the missing items that would materially change the plan or the numbers, and ask them together in one short follow-up. Don't ask for anything you don't need. Don't push me to collect or disclose the employee's reason for leaving.

STEP 3 — Once you have enough, produce the full output below.

Rules that govern everything you produce:

JURISDICTION. If you can browse, use current official sources — employment standards authorities, labour departments, payroll authorities, legislation — cite each material source with the date you checked it, and keep law separate from employer policy and contract terms. If you cannot browse, say so once, then do not invent notice periods, severance formulas, final-pay deadlines, or any statutory requirement. Use only the figures I gave you, show formulas separately from legal assumptions, label anything legally dependent as UNVERIFIED, tell me exactly what to confirm, and suggest the official search terms to confirm it with. Continue with the operational and communication work either way.

MONEY. Gross amounts only. Never estimate income tax, payroll deductions, withholding, net pay, or legal fees. Every financial line shows: item, input used, formula, estimated gross amount, expected timing, assumption or source, and who confirms it. Group lines as CONFIRMED, ESTIMATED, LEGALLY DEPENDENT, or UNKNOWN, then show a known subtotal, an estimated subtotal, unresolved items, and a total estimated gross figure. Track company property separately from money — never treat unreturned property as a deduction from earned wages or final pay.

RISK. Flag any of these the moment they appear: union or collective agreement, protected leave, accommodation or disability, pregnancy, workplace injury, safety complaint, harassment or discrimination complaint, whistleblowing, wage complaint, retaliation concern, fixed-term contract, executive compensation, commission or bonus dispute, equity, immigration consequences, cross-border employment, mass termination, unclear contract terms, an employee working in another jurisdiction, or an active investigation. For each flag: name it, name the specific decision that needs professional review, and keep organizing the facts and the safe administrative work around it. Do not decide whether legal cause exists, whether a departure is lawful, whether earned amounts can be withheld, or how a dismissal, constructive dismissal, discrimination, or retaliation question would resolve. Do not draft a release for signature, and never present an estimate as a guaranteed entitlement.

Treat this as a resignation, not a termination — don't import termination entitlements or language into it. But route these to professional review before acting: job abandonment, unexplained absence, a disputed or ambiguous resignation, an allegation that the resignation was forced, a constructive dismissal concern, unclear acceptance, or any retaliation concern.

Work the notice question through whichever path applies: the employee works full notice; we accept an earlier end date; we waive active work while continuing compensation where that is permitted and affordable; or the notice requirement is disputed or unclear — in which case flag it rather than resolving it.

OUTPUT, in this order:
1. Situation summary
2. Risk and professional-review flags
3. Missing or unverified information
4. Expected final gross-pay estimate — wages through the proposed final day, accrued vacation, overtime, approved expenses, commission, bonus, benefits treatment, pension or retirement, equity, other contractual amounts
5. Manager acknowledgment guide — acknowledge the resignation, avoid promising a date or a payment on the spot, confirm HR will review, open the transition conversation, say when written confirmation follows
6. HR resignation acknowledgment — resignation received, confirmed final day, notice arrangement, final-pay process, benefits, transition expectations, property return, exit interview, employment documents, contact person. Head it DRAFT — REVIEW BEFORE SENDING.
7. HR, payroll, and benefits actions
8. Internal announcement — a warmer tone is fine here. First ask whether the employee has approved sharing their next role, their destination, or personal farewell details; without that confirmation, leave all three out.
9. External continuity message — only if clients, vendors, or partners are affected. Replacement contact and uninterrupted service.
10. Knowledge-transfer plan — active work, deadlines, recurring tasks, clients, files, documentation, system knowledge, key contacts, open decisions, handover sessions, and the final owner for each item
11. Final-day reconciliation worksheet — actual final hours, vacation adjustment, expenses submitted, commission and bonus updates, notice-period changes, benefits confirmed, property returned, access removed, required documents completed, payroll corrections
12. Offboarding checklist — written acknowledgment, last-day confirmation, notice handling, transition plan, client reassignment, recurring-work handover, documentation, final pay, benefits, expenses, property, access, exit interview, records, internal announcement, external communication, post-departure contact
13. Optional exit-interview invitation — voluntary and neutral, with no pressure to explain the decision
14. Items requiring legal, payroll, tax, compensation, or benefits confirmation
15. Official sources reviewed, with dates — only if you were able to browse

Write for an HR audience: direct, neutral, no euphemisms that hide the decision, no legal-sounding certainty, no filler. Use placeholders rather than inventing facts. If a section below doesn't apply, say so in one line and move on.