Abstract

The Author analyses the recent Statute n. 188/2007 providing new regulations concerning workers' resignation. The widespread practice of "blank resignation" (i.e. the illegitimate practice according to which the employer asks the employee to subscribe a dateless letter of resignation, that he will be able to use at will) led the legislature to intervene by means of binding procedural rules, aiming at making certain whether and when the employee actually did resign. The legislature stated that any worker (even when employed in a fixed term contract or self-employed) intending to resign ought to fill the ad hoc on line form provided by the Labour Board. Any informal or dateless resignation is null and void. The Author underlines that while the new rigid provisions apply to employment relationships in which the employee is not entitled to resign at will, informal (often false) agreements about the termination of the employment relationship fall outside the Statute's scope. Such a gap could give rise to another illegitimate practice - the "blank agreement" instead of "blank resignation".