Employee Rights on Resignation in Indonesia

Resignation is when an employee leaves of their own accord. Under Indonesian employment rules, resignation is one of the grounds on which an employment relationship ends, so an employee who resigns still has rights the company must pay, even though they differ from severance pay.

This article summarizes the requirements for resigning, what an employee who resigns is owed, the extra rules for contract staff, and HR's tasks when an employee leaves, based on the rules in force as of October 2026. For working out unused leave, see also the annual leave rules for employees.

Summary

The essentials of employee rights on resignation:

• The requirements. Under Article 36(i) of PP 35/2021, an employee who resigns must submit a written request no later than 30 days before the resignation date, must not be bound by a service bond, and must keep carrying out their duties until the resignation date. This 30-day limit is what people call one month notice.
• Two main rights. Article 50 of PP 35/2021 gives an employee who resigns and meets the requirements two rights: replacement of rights pay (uang penggantian hak) and separation pay (uang pisah).
• Not severance. Article 50 does not list severance pay (uang pesangon) or long-service pay (uang penghargaan masa kerja) for employees who resign of their own accord.
• What replacement of rights covers. Article 40(4) of PP 35/2021 lists annual leave not yet taken and not yet expired, the cost of returning the employee and their family to the place where they were hired, and other items set in the employment contract, company regulation, or collective agreement.
• The company sets separation pay. The government sets no amount. It is set in the employment contract, company regulation, or collective agreement.

The DPR passed the UU Pelindungan Ketenagakerjaan (Employment Protection Law) on 6 October 2026. Until its official text is promulgated and takes effect, the rules above still apply. This article will be updated when the new rules apply.

What a Resigning Employee Is Owed

For THR, what counts is the date the employment ends, not the date the resignation letter is handed in. An employee who hands in their letter 45 days before the holiday and whose last day falls 15 days before it is still within that 30-day window.

Worked Example

The following illustration uses made-up figures and company rules, not government rules.

A permanent employee earning Rp6,300,000 a month with 4 years of service hands in a written resignation on 1 October, with a last day of 31 October. They have 4 days of annual leave left that have not expired. Their company regulation says:

• one day of leave is worth the monthly wage divided by 21 working days, which is Rp300,000;
• separation pay is one month's wage for 3 or more years of service.

What the company pays:

• Unused leave: 4 × Rp300,000 = Rp1,200,000.
• Separation pay: 1 × Rp6,300,000 = Rp6,300,000.
• October wages and unpaid overtime: in the normal payroll cycle.
• Total excluding October wages: Rp7,500,000.

If the company regulation does not set the separation pay amount or how unused leave is valued, this calculation can easily turn into a dispute. Put both in writing before anyone resigns.

Contract Employees Who Resign

Employees on fixed-term contracts (PKWT) have additional rules:

• Damages. Article 62 of UU 13/2003 says the party that ends a PKWT before its term is over must pay the other party damages equal to the wages up to the end of the contract.
• Compensation pay. Article 17 of PP 35/2021 says that if either party ends a PKWT early, the employer still pays compensation calculated on the part of the PKWT already worked.
• THR. Article 7 of Permenaker 6/2016 does not apply to PKWT employees whose contract ends before the holiday.

How damages and compensation apply in a given case can vary. Check the employment contract, and for disputed cases, consult an employment law expert.

Common Challenges

Problems when an employee resigns usually show up on HR's administrative side:

1. Dates aren't recorded properly. The resignation arrives by chat or email with no clear date of receipt, so it's hard to confirm the 30-day limit.
2. Leave balances are inaccurate. Unused leave is recalculated from a spreadsheet and may not match the employee's own records.
3. Separation pay isn't defined. The company regulation doesn't state the amount, so every case is negotiated on its own.
4. The last month's attendance and overtime aren't totaled. Approved overtime gets left out of the final payment.
5. Contract staff are treated like permanent staff. Yet the rules on damages, compensation, and THR differ.
6. Exit documents are late. The company's resignation statement is needed for the JHT claim, so delays in HR also delay the employee's rights.

Practical Checklist

• Receive the written resignation, then record the date received and the effective date.
• Make sure there are at least 30 days between them. If there are fewer, check the effect on the employee's rights under the company regulation.
• Check whether the employee is bound by a service bond.
• Work out unused leave that has not expired as of the effective date.
• Total attendance and overtime up to the last day.
• Calculate separation pay under the employment contract, company regulation, or collective agreement.
• Check THR entitlement if the effective date falls within 30 days before a religious holiday.
• For PKWT employees, check the remaining contract term, compensation, and damages.
• Prepare the resignation statement for the JHT claim and a certificate of employment.
• Record the handover of work and assets, then revoke system access on the last day.

Recommended Workflow

1. Record the request. HR records the resignation letter, date received, and effective date in the employee's data.
2. Agree the handover. The manager lists the work to hand over before the last day.
3. Total the data up to the effective date. Attendance, approved overtime, and unused leave are counted up to the last working day.
4. Calculate the rights. HR works out replacement of rights, separation pay, and THR where it applies, under the company's rules.
5. Review and approve. The manager, HR, and finance check the calculation before payment.
6. Pay and issue documents. The company pays the employee and issues the resignation statement and certificate of employment.
7. Archive. Keep the resignation letter, calculation, and proof of payment with the employee's data.

Workflow Comparison

Once the underlying data is in order, HR only has to apply the company's rules rather than collect figures from many places.

How OmahKu HRIS Helps

OmahKu HRIS keeps the data needed to work out what a resigning employee is owed:

• Employee profiles for personal, career, and document data in one place. See also which employee profile data to manage.
• Trackable leave balances, so unused leave as of the effective date is easy to check.
• Leave, permission, and overtime requests through an approval workflow, so the overtime to be paid has a recorded approval.
• GPS and geofence attendance plus shift scheduling as the source of attendance data up to the last day.
• Attendance, leave, and overtime reports with an audit trail for the final totals and for tracing records if there's an objection. See also employee attendance reports and audit trails.

Separation pay and the final payment still follow the employment contract, company regulation, or collective agreement. Data from OmahKu HRIS is the input for that calculation.

Getting Started

1. Check whether the company regulation already sets the separation pay amount and how unused leave is valued.
2. Build an offboarding checklist from the list above.
3. Decide who calculates, reviews, and approves the final payment.
4. Keep leave balances and attendance data up to date, rather than working them out only when someone resigns.
5. Prepare templates for the resignation statement and certificate of employment.

If you'd like to see how OmahKu HRIS keeps employee data, leave balances, attendance, and overtime in one platform, contact our team through the contact page.