Claim of Resignation Withdrawal Due to "Mental and Physical Weakness" Rejected... Court Rules "Voluntary Departure, Not Unfair Dismissal"

Expressed intention to withdraw resignation citing "mental and physical weakness"
Court: "Employment relationship ended by voluntary resignation"

The court has rejected the claim of a cooperative employee who argued that he was unfairly dismissed after withdrawing his resignation, which he said had been submitted while he was in a mentally and physically weakened state.

According to the legal community on October 20, the 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kang Jaewon) recently ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by employee A of the cooperative, seeking to overturn the Central Labor Relations Commission’s decision on the unfair dismissal remedy review.

Employee A joined the company in 1989 and worked there for over 30 years. In January of last year, he was transferred to a branch of Cooperative B. After the transfer, he took sick leave due to health issues and returned to work in February. However, within 20 minutes of returning, he handwrote and submitted a resignation letter stating he was resigning due to personal reasons. Although the branch manager tried to dissuade him, A submitted the resignation and left the office. The cooperative accepted his resignation on the same day.

Subsequently, A claimed, "At the time, due to the harassment by the cooperative president and the stress from the transfer, I submitted my resignation while in a mentally and physically weakened state," and "Around lunchtime, I expressed my intention to withdraw it, but the company did not accept this." He further argued, "The resignation was not a genuine expression of intent and is therefore invalid, and the company's unilateral handling of it constitutes unfair dismissal."

However, the court did not accept these arguments. The court stated, "The resignation letter was immediately accepted on the same day and therefore cannot be withdrawn without the company's consent. There is also no objective evidence supporting the claim that the withdrawal was made around lunchtime." The court further explained, "The claim that the resignation was submitted while in a mentally and physically weakened state is not sufficiently supported by the emergency room visit or psychiatric diagnosis alone to conclude that judgment was lost. The intention to resign is valid."

The court concluded, "Once the employee submits a resignation letter and the employer accepts it, the employment relationship must be considered terminated," and added, "The company’s actions cannot be regarded as a dismissal."

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