Is termination by a WhatsApp message from an employee legally binding?
In principle: yes. The courts have determined that termination by WhatsApp message is, in principle, legally valid, provided that that message has reached the employee (see ECLI:NL:RBROT:2020:6660).
In the following case before the District court Zeeland-West-Brabant, the court reiterated what is needed for a legally binding termination by an employee.
Clear and unambiguous
It is established case law that an employee's termination of an employment contract requires a clear and unambiguous statement aimed at terminating the employment contract. This strict standard protects the employee from the severe consequences that voluntary termination of the employment may have for them, such as possible loss of unemployment benefits.
Investigating further
Because of these severe consequences, the employer cannot just assume that a statement by the employee is aimed at voluntary termination of employment. Under certain circumstances, the employer may even have a duty to investigate whether the employee actually wanted to terminate and an obligation to inform the employee about the consequences of the termination.
In this case, the employee sent the employer the following Whatsapp message: "Ontslag mij omdat kan niet meer" (literally translated as 'Dismissal me because can no longer'). The court ruled that this text message could not be interpreted as a clear and unambiguous statement indicating that the employee wanted to terminate the contract immediately. And even if the employer did interpret this message as such, it should have satisfied itself that the employee understood the consequences of the termination, which the employer failed to do so.
The court concluded that the employee did not terminate the employment contract, nor could the employer assume this from the Whatsapp message.