On line resignation: the first critical aspects

On 12 March 2016, the new procedure came into force governing online resignation and termination by agreement, introduced by the Jobs Act. However, there are certain critical aspects of the new procedure. Firstly, there is an initial doubt regarding the procedure’s application in the case of resignation during an employee’s trial period. On the one hand, the Labour Ministry, in its circular 12/2016 of 4 March, expressly excluded its application in such cases; on the other hand, in listing those cases in which the procedure shall not apply, the law did not include resignation during employees’ trial period. The aforesaid circular also reconfirmed that the period of notice to be given by a resigning employee shall run from the date of activation of the electronic procedure. Consequently, if the employee does not have an Italian National Social Security (INPS) Personal Identification Number (PIN), then said employee shall have to wait until being issued with such PIN, and thus the period during which he/she may leave the company shall be extended accordingly. The law has also granted the employee the right to withdraw his/her resignation within seven days; therefore, if the employer has promptly replaced the employee, the employer will run the risk of finding itself with two employees in the same position. No information has been forthcoming, even from the Ministry, regarding the possible non-activation of the procedure on the part of the employee. In such event, the latter should remain in the employ of the employer, who should thus be forced to bring disciplinary proceedings, and at the end of such, penalize the employee’s conduct with his/her dismissal.