Chapter 3 – Personnel, Training, and Employee Relations

33030.30 Duress or Undue Influence

• No one shall exert undue influence or subject employees to duress in order to obtain a resignation. Care must be taken to avoid making statements that could be the basis for an appeal by the employee to have a resignation set aside on grounds it was obtained by duress, undue influence, or excessive persuasion.

• The following elements are characterized as excessive persuasion:

  • Discussion of the resignation at an unusual or inappropriate time.

  • Consummation of the resignation in an unusual place.

  • Insistent demand that the transaction be completed at once.

  • Extreme emphasis on unfavorable consequences of a delay.

  • The use of multiple persuaders by the Department against the employee standing alone.

  • Denial of the time or the opportunity for the employee to consult an advisor.