Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate resolving resource assignment conflicts between access terminals in a wireless communication environment. A first access terminal may receive a persistent, or “sticky” assignment of a set of resources, such as subcarriers. In the event that a second access terminal requires a brief resource assignment, a time-limited, or “non-sticky” resource assignment may be granted to the second access terminal. If a resource in the non-sticky assignment is already assigned to the first access terminal via the sticky assignment, the first access terminal may receive an indication of the conflict along with information related to a duration of the non-sticky assignment, may surrender the conflicted resource, and may resume control over the conflicted resource after the termination of the non-sticky assignment.