Good day

I want to leave my job but my director is refusing to accept my resignation.

I am a high school teacher working at an unregistered school which is still getting its registration number. I just found out that most of the teachers are not licensed. I was not awat=re of this when I signed the contract.

I am bound by a continuous contract that I signed in January 2018.  The terms of the contract say that I must give 2 months notice. The director says I must give 3 calender months notice but I just gave him one month and notified him of this last week. He refused to accept my resignation saying that I have to provide reasonable dates. The contract was initialised by myself but it was not witnessed. Am I bound to this contract?

He has threatened to take me to court if I leave before time. Do I have any recourse at all? Also what is the maximum amount he can sue me for in court?

I would really appreciate your help,

Gen

Hi there and thank you for your question,

So, in our law there is no need to give a reason why you want to resign. If the company wants a reason, simply say that you are not willing to work in such an environment where the school is unregistered and most of the teachers are unlicenced. If you don't want to give a reason, don't.

Also, the company can't refuse to accept your resignation. This is not a negotiation, you are simply advising that you are resigning from your position.

The fact that you signed the contract means that you are bound. You don't need it witnessed for it to be binding.

Technically, in terms of the contract, you need to give the notice period listed. So, in this case it would be 2 months notice. He can't force you to give him 3 months if it is not in the contract.

If you leave early then he would be able to sue you. His claim would be for any financial loss that the company suffers as a result of you leaving a month early. e.g. you leave a month early and they can't find another teacher to replace you so 10 kids leave the school. The damages would be their school fees which the school has now lost out on.

So, my advice is to work in the required notice period, and then leave. Then there is no claim that they can have against you.

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread.

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Att. Patrick

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