Human Resources

 An employee who voluntarily resigns from the College is expected to give advance notice (recommended timeframes for specific employee groups are listed below). Proper advance notice allows the College to adequately and accurately prepare for the employee’s departure (including making calculations to prepare final payment, addressing IT access, addressing insurance concerns, etc.).

• Faculty:  for employment to end after the Fall semester, notice should be presented during the previous Winter semester; for employment to end after the Winter semester, notice should be presented during the previous Fall semester
• Administrative and Professional Staff:  four weeks
• Classified Staff:  ten working days

An employee who has decided to resign should submit a letter of resignation to his or her supervisor. The letter of resignation must include the date of the final work day. It is important to note that no annual leave will be approved during the final two weeks of employment.

For all employee groups, failure to provide sufficient notice may result in the delay or non-payment of leave payouts and forfeiture of reinstatement privileges.

For Faculty, resignations must coincide with the end of the contract period (for Tenured, Tenure-Track, and renewable Faculty the end of the contract period is April 30) and final payments will be made at that time. Any resignation submitted for a date after the end of the contract period, but before the beginning of the next contract period (typically September 1) will require back payment to the College for any benefits’ expense paid on behalf of the resigning faculty for which they would not have normally been entitled.

Required:  Employee Exit Sheet

In planning for retirement, an employee should give as much advance notice to his or her supervisor as possible, as it usually takes several months to accommodate and prepare for such a major change. A retiring employee (or even an employee who is considering retirement) is strongly encouraged to meet with an HR consultant to learn about benefit options and coverage; and, in the case of a PERA employee, to coordinate the retirement application process.

REQUIRED:  Employee Exit Sheet

An employee whose conduct, actions, or performance violates or is in conflict with the College’s policies may be subject to discipline in accordance with the College’s or State’s progressive discipline process. The last step in the discipline process is termination.

An employee who is terminated for serious misconduct (examples of serious misconduct include, but are not limited to theft or dishonesty, violence, violations of campus policies, or refusal to follow a legitimate work directive) will not be eligible for re-employment and may be subject to criminal charges if conduct involves criminal activity.

Decisions to terminate an employee and actual termination must be coordinated and scheduled through the Office of Human Resources. This will ensure that specific procedures are followed, as well as the timely processing of final paychecks and/or other relevant matters.

When a subsequent appointment is not available or offered for the next term, we ask that you follow the protocol for leaving Fort Lewis College.

REQUIRED:  Visiting Faculty Exit Sheet

In the event of a layoff due to lack of work, lack of funding, or reorganization, supervisors must obtain approval from the Office of Human Resources prior to eliminating a position. Layoffs of any type or size can only occur with the approval of the President and, in the case of Classified employees, the Appointing Authority. In order for a layoff to take place, there are specific timelines and notification procedures that must be followed. Timelines associated with layoffs require no less than 6 months of advance notice.