The employee has the right to withdraw the resignation before accepting it

The Fatwa and Legislation Department at the Ministry of Justice issued a legal fatwa related to a local government entity’s inquiry about the legality of the competent authority’s adherence to the resignation request, despite the employee’s withdrawal from it, whether before or after accepting it. The “Fatwa and Legislation” established a legal principle stating that the competent authority has no right to Adhering to the resignation request and rejecting the request to withdraw it as long as a decision is not issued to accept it and the 60-day period legally specified for its effectiveness has not passed. However, if the authority A decision has been issued to accept the resignation, or the 60-day period specified by law for the resignation to take effect has passed, so the employee has no right to revoke it.

The Fatwa and Legislation Department had reviewed a letter from a government agency in Sharjah, indicating that there is no text in the Civil Service Law of the Emirate of Sharjah that addresses the issue of retracting a resignation, and thus a controversy arose over the legality of the competent authority’s insistence on accepting the resignation, despite the employee’s retraction.

Accordingly, the Fatwa and Legislation Department requested the authority that issued the letter to provide it with a copy of the Civil Service Law of the Emirate of Sharjah and its amendments, through which it became clear that Article (112) of Law No. (1) of 2001 stipulates that an employee’s service shall end for several reasons, including acceptance of resignation. Article (113) of the same law stipulates that an employee may resign from his job pursuant to a written request submitted to his direct supervisor before the date specified for resignation. Within 60 days, the employee is committed to continuing his work and his service does not end except with the decision issued accepting his resignation, which is considered acceptable by law, if he does not decide on it within the stipulated period.

Accept the resignation

The Fatwa and Legislation Department at the Ministry of Justice stated that, according to the legal texts, accepting the resignation is considered one of the reasons for termination of service, and the employee has the right to submit his resignation in accordance with the controls and procedures established for that and he must continue his work until a decision is issued to accept his resignation, or the expiration of the 60-day period after the specified date. For the resignation to take effect, the texts did not address cases of reversing the resignation, leaving that to the general rules.