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New York Lawyer April 24, 2000 Q: I just received an offer from a larger firm and am concerned about resigning from my current firm. I plan to give my current employer two weeks notice, but I have scheduled a vacation that will fall in the middle of those two weeks. Should I quit early and take the vacation on my own time, or should I take the vacation on the firm's time? And, if the latter, when do I submit my letter of resignation?
Find More Answers A: This is a very interesting question and there are probably a number of different takes on this issue. First of all, and I suspect that I already know the answer to this question, is it possible to reschedule your vacation? In fact, I generally advise my candidates to take a vacation right before they start their new job, if at all possible. Number one is that you need a breather and a little bit of time to relax right after you leave your old job. Reason number two is that once you start your new job, it is going to be a while before you will have a chance to take any time off and you might as well grab that free time while you still can. Generally, the only way you will get any time off from a new job during those first six to twelve months is if you already have something planned or prepaid. OK, as I said above, I know the answer to the question of rescheduling your vacation. Certainly you have explored this option and, for whatever reason, it is not possible for you to change the dates of your vacation. I would advise you to explore revising your vacation plans one more time and try to shorten the time of your trip or at least rearrange part of it. For example, if it is your grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party and you planned to go home for a two-week visit, just go to the anniversary festivities and plan to return to visit the family at another time. If you give a shorter notice, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your firm. You might even be burning a bridge that will return to haunt you in the future. It is standard operating procedure to give two weeks notice. Some people prefer to give even more, depending on their circumstances. For instance, if you are a litigator and in the middle of a trial, you would want to extend your notice to allow you to stay with the firm until the end of the trial. Or perhaps you just have a lot of work to finish up and you dont want to leave your employer in the lurch. If that is the case, it is not unheard of to give three to four weeks notice and, occasionally, even more. As with everything else, there are always exceptions to the rule. For example, if your firm had asked you to start looking for a new job, they might very well be happy to deviate from the norm and allow you to give less than two weeks notice. Or perhaps things are very slow at the firm and there really is nothing for you to do. In that case, you might find that the partners would not mind if you leave their employ sooner rather than later. However, these are exceptions and you should not take them as an indication that it is OK to give less than the standard two weeks notice. Since I have assumed that you cannot reschedule your vacation and advised that you should not give less than two weeks notice, I guess you really are limited to only two options. Give notice and then take your vacation on the firms time or go on your vacation and do not give your notice until you return. Either way, you really are taking your vacation on the firms time. Absent that alternative, I think I would go on my vacation and then give notice upon my return. Something just doesnt sit right with me with this option and I really am uncomfortable advising you to do this. It has a sense of duplicity to me but I am not sure my next suggestion is much better. I suppose you could go to your partner and have a heart to heart conversation with him or her. Let the partner know that you are going to be giving your notice but want to do it in the most professional manner and in a way that will be the least disruptive to the firm. Ask the partner for his or her advice on when you should give your notice. This is obviously the most honest method but there is the chance of it backfiring on you. If this partner does not have your best interests at heart, he or she might ask you to leave the firm immediately. I seriously doubt that this will happen but there is always the chance that it might. I want to add one last piece of advice for those of you who are starting a job search but have a planned vacation that is scheduled for sometime during the next six months or so which would probably mean sometime early on with your new employer. When you receive an offer of employment from a new employer, this is your one and only chance to make sure that all the conditions of employment are clear to all involved prior to accepting the offer and starting the job. If you do have something planned that will require you to be away from work, make sure you explain the situation right before you accept the offer. By doing so, there can be no misunderstandings and it also allows plenty of time for the employer to plan on how to work around your absence. Please let us know what happens when you give notice, and have a great time on your vacation!
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