The Company Refuses Your Resignation, Won't Let You Go, or Threatens to Mark You AWOL: Resignation Needs No Approval; It Takes Effect When Notice Runs

The core answer: resignation needs no approval, only served notice and a completed notice period

Separate the concepts first. Many Chinese employees, drawing on habits from home, assume resignation follows a submit, manager signs, HR approves sequence, and that without approval they cannot leave. Under the Philippine labor framework that understanding is wrong: an employee may resign without stating a reason, and the law requires only advance written notice to the employer, with the length of the notice period set by the labor regulations in force at the time, or by the contract where it provides a longer period. When the notice period ends, the employment relationship ends, and no consent from the employer is needed.

When the company replies not approved, its only real legal meaning is this: the company does not agree to your leaving early and requires you to complete the notice period. It cannot keep you beyond the notice period, and it cannot turn not approved into your resignation is void. So when you receive that reply, the right response is not panic but one sentence: noted, I will continue working through the notice period until X, which will be my last working day. That sentence puts the matter back on the legal track.

Know also when the notice period can be shortened or waived: where the employer agrees in writing to an earlier departure, you may leave early; and in specific circumstances provided by law, an employee may resign immediately without a notice period. Which circumstances qualify, and whether yours does, is for a licensed lawyer to assess on the facts. Do not self-diagnose, because getting it wrong turns a lawful resignation into abandonment.

One more line companies use: the contract is for two years, you cannot resign before it ends. Early termination of a fixed-term contract may indeed raise questions of liability, but that is a question of whether you owe anything, not whether you can leave. And whether a so-called two-year contract actually constitutes a fixed-term contract in law depends on its terms and how the work was really arranged. That too needs a lawyer to read the original.

In one sentence: you are not asking the company to let you go; you are informing the company of the day you go. Get the posture right and every later step is easier.

How to serve notice so it counts: written, provable delivery, and a refusal to receive still counts

The heart of a resignation notice is not how well it is written but whether you can prove on what day, by what means, and into whose hands it was delivered. Having said it aloud, or mentioned it in passing on WeChat, does not count; the company can later say it never received anything.

One, use written form and state only three things: that you resign, that your last working day is X (counted back from the notice period), and that you request handover and final settlement arrangements. Do not state reasons, do not complain about the company or accuse the boss in the letter, and write nothing emotional. A resignation letter is a legal document, not a venting letter. State reasons and the company can make something of them; state none and it has nothing to work with.

Two, deliver with a record, through at least two channels. The first choice is the company's official email to your direct supervisor with HR copied, which carries its own timestamp. At the same time, print a paper copy, hand it over in person, and ask the recipient to sign and date your retained copy. If they refuse to sign, a common stalling tactic, do not argue; send an email on the spot saying I handed my resignation letter to X at Y place at Z time today and X declined to sign for it, recorded for the file, and keep the email you sent. Refusal to receive does not affect the validity of service; all you need is the record that you delivered and they declined.

Three, no reply from the company does not mean no service. The notice period runs from the date of service, not from the date the company responds. Silence, stalling, or wait until the boss is back changes nothing about your last working day.

Four, work normally and hand over normally during the notice period. Many people cannot see why: I have resigned, why keep working properly? Because your attendance and handover records during the notice period are the key evidence that you resigned lawfully rather than abandoned the job, and they are the precondition for collecting your final pay and employment certificate. Slacking off or unexplained absence during the notice period hands the company a weapon.

Five, make a written handover list. List the work, accounts, and items in your hands, to whom each was handed, on what day, with the recipient's signature. The list is your proof that everything was handed over, which you can produce when the company later claims you never did.

Six common stalling tactics and how to dismantle each

When a resignation is stalled, the company's tactics are nearly always one of these. Taking them in turn.

One, not signing, not replying, pretending not to see it. The answer is in the previous section: serve through multiple channels, record any refusal, and let the notice period run.

Two, you must pay back training costs or a penalty before you can leave. The company may assert it, but asserting is not establishing: whether a training agreement actually exists, whether it bears your signature, whether the amount is reasonable, and whether it complies with the limits labor regulations place on such clauses all depend on the original. The answer: ask them to produce the written agreement you signed; recognize none that is not in writing; hand any that is to a lawyer to review the terms. In any case this is a matter of debt, and the company cannot use it to detain you, hold your documents, or withhold all your wages.

Three, the handover is not finished, you cannot leave. During the notice period you must cooperate with the handover, but its scope is the work in your hands, not unlimited responsibilities the company wants to pile on. The answer: a written handover list that defines the scope, completed and signed for; the end of the notice period is your last day, and an unfinished handover is a problem of the company's own scheduling.

Four, holding your passport or documents. This is a red line. Your passport is your own property, and no employer has any right to retain it; the response is in what to do when the company holds your passport.

Five, threatening to report you to immigration or cancel your visa and have you deported. All an employer can do is go through the ordinary sponsorship termination procedure; your status does not lapse on the spot. The response is in when an employer threatens to report you to immigration.

Six, if we do not approve, you are AWOL. The most common and most intimidating line, taken apart in the next section.

The common answer to every tactic: do not argue, do not be provoked, respond entirely in writing, and follow every conversation with an email for the record. A company stalls either to make you afraid or to make you rush. Give it neither and it has no grip.

Why not approved means AWOL does not hold: resignation and abandonment are two different things

AWOL means failing to report for work without notice and without leave. Resignation means written notice, a completed notice period, and a lawful departure. The dividing line is whether there was written notice and whether the notice period was completed; it has nothing to do with whether the company approved. If you gave written notice and completed the notice period, the company recording you as AWOL does not hold in law. But does not hold is not the same as it will not try, so prepare your evidence in advance.

What trouble an AWOL record can cause: the company may cite it to withhold your employment certificate, refuse to settle your final pay, speak badly of you in background checks, or even claim losses from you on the ground of abandonment. The real consequences and responses are in the consequences of going AWOL.

Your defense is a single thing: a complete chain of evidence. The service record of your resignation letter; your attendance during the notice period (time logs, emails, work output); the signed handover list; and an email sent on the last day of the notice period saying today is my last working day, all handover is complete, please arrange the final settlement. With those four, if the company still records AWOL, you lay them out before the labor authority or in legal proceedings and the company cannot stand on it.

A common mistake: after the company says not approved, the employee stops showing up out of spite. That single step turns a lawful resignation into genuine abandonment, erases everything done before, and hands the company hard evidence. However angry you are, complete the notice period.

Another common mistake: the company says you can go, no need to serve the notice period, the employee leaves, and nothing is put in writing. When the company later turns around and says he just walked out, you have no evidence of its agreement to early departure. The answer: when the company verbally agrees to early release, reply by email immediately, thank you for agreeing to my early departure on X date, confirmed for the record. If the company does not object, that is acquiescence.

If you have actually been recorded AWOL and the company refuses settlement on that basis, the complaint process is in how to file a complaint against an employer with the labor department.

Clearance stalled, employment certificate withheld: the company's last leverage and how to get it back

After the notice period ends and you have left, the company still holds two things it can use against you: the clearance process and the employment certificate. These are tied to your final pay, your onboarding at the next job, and, for foreign employees, the visa conversion, so companies often drag them out as leverage.

What clearance is and how long the company can drag it: clearance is the company's internal confirmation that you have no unreturned items and no unsettled amounts. It is an internal step in settling your final pay, not a legal basis for withholding wages indefinitely. Final pay settlement is subject to the labor department's guidance on timing, and where the company overruns that on the pretext of clearance you can raise it with the labor department. Which amounts are included and how they are computed is in how final pay and separation pay are computed.

The answer: drive it yourself. On your departure day, submit a written clearance application with your handover list and item-return records attached; follow up in writing at intervals, keeping a record of every reminder. When the company says a certain department has not signed, ask that department directly what it needs; when the company says items are outstanding, produce the return records. The more actively you drive it and the more complete your records, the fewer excuses the company has.

The Certificate of Employment: this is a document an employee is entitled to ask the employer to issue. It merely confirms the period of employment and the position, with no evaluation. If the company refuses to issue it or deliberately writes negative content on it, you can raise it with the labor department. The answer is the same: written request, written follow-up, records kept.

Do not sign any waiver to get clearance and the certificate faster. A common practice is to hand over a quitclaim, a statement that you confirm receipt of all amounts due and have no claim against the company, together with the certificate, releasing the latter only on signature. If every amount has genuinely been received and you confirm there is no dispute, signing is your choice; if amounts remain unsettled or you have a claim against the company, have a lawyer look before you sign, because reversing such a document afterward is very hard.

Foreign employees: the 9G is tied to the employer, resignation must be timed to status, and what Yixing can do

Everything above applies to local and foreign employees alike, but a foreign employee has one more layer: your work visa is tied to this company, and after you resign, your status line needs somewhere to go. This is the point the company understands best and most likes to use as a threat, so you need to understand it better than the company does.

Get the order right: arrange status first, then submit the resignation letter. If you already have a new employer, the visa handover process is in how to change employer on a 9G, and the timing usually needs to be agreed with the new company in advance. If you do not yet have one, the lawful stay options after losing a job are in lawful stay options after losing a job. Until the status route is clear, do not submit a resignation out of spite, because once the notice period starts running, so does your status window.

After you resign, the former employer will go through the sponsorship termination procedure. That is the normal process, not retaliation. Your task is to have your status conversion arranged before then so the two dovetail without a gap. A former employer that delays the termination or writes false content into the termination papers is a different category of problem, one that needs a lawyer.

If the reason you are resigning is that the company asked you to do something illegal, resignation is only one step of the exit; the order of evidence and help-seeking is in how to refuse when your boss asks you to do something illegal.

What Yixing can do: whether the resignation is lawful, whether liability for breach exists, and how to pursue clearance and wage disputes are for a licensed lawyer. Yixing is a private consultancy, not a law firm. Yixing works the status line: verifying the actual status and remaining time on your 9G, employment permit, and residency card; mapping your status conversion routes and required documents so the resignation date dovetails with the conversion; assisting with the handover to a new employer where you have one, or a transitional lawful stay where you do not yet; and finding a lawyer who handles labor and immigration matters. For that assistance, see Yixing settling-in advisory.

Yixing International Travel Agency is a Chinese-language business consultancy registered in Makati, Philippines, holding SEC Registration CS202009551, Bureau of Immigration Accreditation No. CA-202624381-1 (valid to 2027-06-30), DOLE accreditation and PRA accreditation. We are not affiliated with any government agency and promise no outcome. How to choose a lawyer is in how to find a reliable lawyer in the Philippines. Consult a licensed lawyer for your specific case; this article is not legal advice.