If your contract specifies a notice period, you must either serve the notice when you resign or pay salary in lieu of notice. This is money equivalent to the salary that you would have earned during the required notice period. Notice can be waived by mutual consent between you and your employer.
Termination letter
Any notice of termination, either by you or your employer, must be in writing, such as through a termination letter or email.
If you did not receive a termination letter, ask your employer to give you one.
- When you resign, you should ask your employer to acknowledge your notice of termination, such as by signing your termination letter or replying to your email. This helps prevent misunderstandings or disputes.
- Your employer is not required to give a reason for termination. You are also not required to provide one when resigning.
Serving your notice period
If your employment contract specifies the notice period, when you resign, you must either:
- Serve the notice period
- Pay salary in lieu of notice to your employer
Notice can be waived by mutual consent between you and your employer.
The length of notice period must be:
- The same for the employer and employee.
- As agreed according to the employment contract.
No notice period in contract
If your employment contract didn’t specify the notice period, the notice period required will depend on your length of service.
| Length of service |
Notice period |
| Less than 26 weeks |
1 day |
| 26 weeks to less than 2 years |
1 week |
| 2 years to less than 5 years |
2 weeks |
| 5 years or more |
4 weeks |
How to count start and end of notice period
The notice period includes:
- The day on which notice is given
- Public holidays, rest days and non-working days
Examples
Scenario 1 – 1 day’s notice
An employee tenders their resignation today, giving 1 day’s notice. Their last day of work will be today, as the notice period includes the day when the employee served notice.
Scenario 2 – 1 month’s notice (with public holidays)
An employee gives 1 month’s notice. If the employee tenders their resignation on 15 July 2025, their last day of work will be 14 August 2025, as the notice period includes public holidays and weekends.
Scenario 3 – resign around late January or early February
An employee gives 1 month’s notice. If the employee tenders their resignation on 29 January 2025, their last day of work will be 28 February 2025.
However, if the employee tenders their resignation on the following dates, their last day of work will still be 28 February 2025, because February contains only 28 days:
- 30 January 2025
- 31 January 2025
- 1 February 2025
Waiver of notice period
Both parties may also agree to waive the notice period by mutual consent which should be done in writing.
CPF contribution during the notice period
You and your employer must make CPF contributions for your salary earned during the notice period, while you are still considered an employee of the company.
However, CPF contributions are not required for salary in lieu of notice.
Special situations during the notice period
Find out how leave and other scenarios may affect the notice period:
With your employer's approval, you may clear your annual leave during your notice period.
If your employment is terminated except for termination due to misconduct, your employer must pay you for unused annual leave at the gross rate of pay based on your last drawn salary.
However, if you are terminated for misconduct, any unused leave will be forfeited.
With your employer’s agreement, you can use your annual leave to offset the notice period in exchange for bringing forward your last day of employment. In this case:
- You would only be paid up to your last day of work.
- The annual leave which has been used to offset the remaining notice period will not be paid for by the employer.
- After your last day, you can start work immediately with your new company.
Offsetting your notice period with annual leave is not the same as going on approved annual leave during your notice period. If you apply for annual leave during your notice period, and your employer approves it:
- You will be paid for the full notice period.
- There is no bringing forward of the last day of work and you are considered an employee until the last day of the notice period.
- You have to check your employment contract if you are allowed to start your new job while serving your notice period.
If you apply for unpaid leave while serving notice, your employer can extend the notice period, but only with your agreement.
Whether unpaid leave is granted is at your employer’s discretion.
If you are covered by the Employment Act, and you take any paid or unpaid sick leave during the notice period, it is treated as part of the notice period. Your employer cannot extend your notice period or claim any short notice from you.
Reservist training is not considered part of the notice period. For example, if you go for 1 week of reservist training while serving notice, your notice period will be extended by 1 week.
If you are serving notice, you are still considered an employee of your current employer.
You should check with your existing employer whether you can start work with your new employer during your notice period.
All employees, including those on a fixed-term contract, can resign at any time, as long as they serve the required notice stated in their contract, or make salary in lieu of notice.