Knowing exactly when to leave a job you no longer want can be tricky. You have to make sure you have a new gig lined up or have enough money saved to hold you over until you do. But one thing many don’t account for is what happens in the workplace after you hand in your resignation.

In 2022, a woman named Leigh took to TikTok to share the fallout from handing in her two-week notice to her employer. She fully expected to finish the projects she was working on but was in for a big surprise.

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The TikToker was fired from her job after handing in her two-week notice.

“I think I got fired today... After I gave my two-week notice,” Leigh said as she cut a pizza in front of the camera. Leigh handed in her resignation on a Wednesday, letting her boss know that her last day would be two weeks from then.

According to her, by Friday, she was called into her Project Manager’s office to give more details on why she had chosen to leave her job. The woman didn’t go into exactly why she had opted to leave her position but was caught off guard when, at the end of the conversation, her supervisor told her she didn’t need to work through her notice period since she’d only been on the job for six or seven weeks.

He advised her that her last day would be that day, and a confused Leigh responded by asking about the work in progress she had at the time. “I haven’t finished all of my work yet,” she told him, to which he replied, “I don’t care. Angela can do it.”

Since leaving, the former employee has come to TikTok to give other people who might be ready to quit their job a word of advice: “Make sure you have an emergency fund before you quit.” She closed the video by telling viewers that she was about to email her boss and ask for severance.

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Giving two weeks’ notice doesn’t necessarily mean you will stay employed during that time.

Employees often have the misconception that if you give your job notice saying you are leaving in two weeks, they are obligated to keep you on the job and pay you for that time. Most states follow at-will employment, and with most workers developing a severe case of "short-timers disease" after they resign, a company might not see the value in keeping you on the job after you’ve stated your intention to exit.

Not only do employees stop performing at an acceptable level, but those with a vendetta who are leaving on bad terms could engage in sabotage by deleting company files, sharing confidential data, or sending unauthorized emails to the entire workforce to create chaos.

When a business decides to end your engagement earlier than the last day you anticipated, they will typically pay you through your notice period, although you’re not required to work there anymore. Cutting ties early could trigger unemployment compensation and most organizations will not want to cost the company money by overriding a voluntary termination with an involuntary one.

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Severance is not automatic and can only be expected under certain circumstances.

Time and time again, I hear employees who are terminated say that they are going to ask for severance. Being fired from your job is not an automatic justification for severance.

Keep in mind that those agreements are typically tied to a non-disclosure agreement that bars former employees from making disparaging remarks about the company. Even when severance is paid out, the standard practice is to allot one week of pay per year of employment.

Being that Leigh had only been at the company for about a month and a half, it’s highly unlikely that they will bend to her will and give her severance — unless, of course, something egregious happened that forced her to quit, and they want to keep it under wraps.

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NyRee Ausler is a writer and author from Seattle, Washington. She covers issues navigating the workplace using the experience garnered over two decades of working in Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.