WORKING PARENTS DURING THE PROTECTED PERIOD: RESIGNATION VALIDATED EVEN DURING PROBATIONARY PERIOD
With Note No. 14744 of 13 October 2025, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies resolved the issue concerning the need to validate resignations with the Territorial Labor Inspectorate (ITL) when they are submitted during the probationary period by working parents in the so-called protected period pursuant to Article 55(4) of Legislative Decree No. 151 of 26 March 2001 (known as the Consolidated Law on Maternity and Paternity), i.e. in cases of resignation by:
- female workers during pregnancy;
- female or male workers during the first 3 years of the child's life or during the first 3 years of fostering or adoption, or, in the case of international adoption, during the first 3 years from the date of notification pursuant to Article 54(9) of the same legislative decree.
In response to this question, the Ministry replied in the affirmative: this obligation to validate resignations must also apply in cases where they are submitted by the above-mentioned workers during their probationary period.
According to the Ministry's interpretation of the rule, Article 55(4) of the Consolidated Law on Maternity and Paternity provides for the validation of resignations as a “general measure” and does not expressly exclude such a measure during the probationary period.
Furthermore, this interpretation is consistent with the very meaning of the validation institution, given that resignations submitted during the protected period could be induced by the employer and thus mask a dismissal based on discriminatory grounds and, as such, always null and void, even during the probationary period.
