Employee resignation – applicable formalities and rules, as per Romanian law

Are you resigning from a job with your Romanian employer, and need to ensure you follow and observe all the applicable employment rules? Need to ensure your employer is not abusing of your lack of Romanian employment law knowledge? Or maybe you’re an employer interested on the rules to be observed in case one of your employees resigns?

Whichever part you’re on, we explain below the most useful rules you have to know in the case of employee resignation. These are important rules every employee and employer in Romania must observe.

How does Romanian law define the employee resignation, and must the employee argue his/her decision?

Resignation is defined as the written notice that an employee gives to his employer, to convey that he wishes to terminate the employment relationship with the later.

As per the Romanian employment law, the employee’s decision to resign does not have to be argued or supported by any specific reasons. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, the resignation must always be in written form, as main requirement by Romanian law.

The company representatives must accept the resignation unconditionally. Even if they do not agree with it, the employer is obliged to register the resignation of the employee. Otherwise, the company will be risking fines that can reach up to 3,000 lei per case.

What are the formalities a Romanian employer must fulfil if an employee resigns?

If one of the employees resigns, employers must always observe certain rules, which relate to:

Can the company request the resignation notification under a specific format?

There is no other requirement in the Romanian labor law regarding the format of the resignation notification. The only one relates to the obligation of being in writing. Therefore, the employer cannot require the employee to prepare the resignation with certain content or under a certain form.

Practically, the employee can simply write that he wants to leave the company as of tomorrow, using only these words. Once he signs the paper and submits it, the employer must accept it. However, the employee cannot always leave work as of the next day. There is a minimum notice period in case of resignation which one must observe. Of course, unless the company agrees the employment relation can cease as of next day.

The notice period is the minimum number of days an employee must remain in the company after filing his resignation. The notice period rules are established by the Romanian employment law (i.e., Romanian Labor Code).

How long is the notice period in case of employee leave?

As per the rules established by the Romanian Labor code, the employee cannot leave on the second or third day after handing in his resignation notice. There is a minimum notice period he has to observe. Of course, with the exception of the situation when parties agree immediate termination of employment contract by mutual agreement.

The leave notice period is the one agreed by the parties in the employment contract, or in the applicable collective labor contract, if the case. Anyways, as per the Romanian law, the notice period cannot be longer than:

or

There is one exception to the above rule however: the employee can resign without notice period, if the employer fails to fulfill its obligations assumed through the employment contract.

Any other obligations that the employee must observe?

The only obligation of the employee regarding resignation is to comply with the legal leave notice period and to present or perform work within the deadlines established in the individual employment contract. The employer cannot condition the employee’s resignation on the completion of specific projects, or on the fulfillment of obligations other than those stipulated in the individual employment contract.