For a resignation to be effective for the purposes of the law it must be in “clear and unambiguous terms”.
“We also do not believe there is any arguable basis to find error in the Deputy President’s assessment that the text message sent by Mr Yates following the telephone conversation on 14 May 2024 was “ambiguous at best”. It is a necessary incident of the employment relationship that the other party must be notified in clear and unambiguous terms if a right to bring the contract to an end is being exercised.31 Consistently with that principles, an employee will not be found to have resigned unless the employee has clearly communicated an intention to so do to the employer.32 The text message sent by Mr Yates did not contain unambiguous words conveying an intention to resign and, in our opinion, the Deputy President was correct to find that the text message did not constitute a resignation by Mr Yates.”
Ridge v Yates [2025] FWCFB 42 delivered 20 February 2025 per Gibian VP, Boyce DP and Butler DP