Guide · Work · 3 min read
Giving notice when you resign
How much notice you need to give, how to give it, and when your last pay is due.
In plain English · by laws.sg · not legal advice· Law as at 29 Sep 2026
On this page · 6 parts
The short answer
Check your contract first. If it says how much notice to give, that is the rule, and the notice has to be the same length for you and your employer. If it says nothing, the Employment Act sets the notice by how long you have worked there.
Who this covers
The Employment Act's definition of an employee includes a person who has entered into, or works under, a contract of service with an employer. Seafarers and domestic workers are not employees under the Act, and neither is any class of people the Minister excludes by notification in the Gazette.
If your contract says nothing
The Act sets a minimum notice that grows with the time you have worked for the same employer. Either side has to give at least this much:
- Less than 26 weeks: one day's notice
- 26 weeks or more but less than 2 years: one week's notice
- 2 years or more but less than 5 years: 2 weeks' notice
- 5 years or more: 4 weeks' notice
Giving notice in writing
Notice has to be in writing. You can give it on any day, and the day you give it counts as part of the notice period.
Either side can also give up its right to notice.
Paying instead of working it
Either side can end the contract without notice by paying the other the salary that would have been earned during the notice period, at the gross rate of pay. For a monthly-rated employee whose notice is less than a month, each day is paid at the gross rate of pay for one day's work. This also works after notice has been given under section 10, instead of waiting for the notice to run out.
If you leave without notice, your employer may take the amount you owe in place of notice out of the salary it owes you, unless a court or the Commissioner orders otherwise.
Either side can also end the contract without notice if the other wilfully breaks a condition of it.
Your last pay and unused leave
Subject to the Act, if you resign after giving the notice section 10 requires, or by paying instead of notice under section 11, your salary must be paid on the day your contract ends.
Subject to the Act, if you leave without giving notice, your salary must be paid before the end of the 7th day after the day you leave.
Subject to the Act, if your employer dismisses you, your salary must be paid on the day of dismissal or, if that is not possible, within 3 days after it, not counting rest days and holidays.
If you are dismissed for any reason other than misconduct, your employer must pay you for every day of the paid annual leave you are entitled to and have not taken.
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