Resignation letter by courier

Regarding dismissal for urgent reasons, Article 35 of the Act of July 3, 1978, states only that such dismissal must occur within three working days after notification of the breach constituting an urgent reason. This article is also interpreted in this way by the courts.

There are therefore no strict formal requirements for the dismissal itself. It can be communicated during a conversation (in person or by phone), via SMS, email, or, of course, by letter. However, you must be able to prove when the dismissal took place. This can be done through one or more witnesses or by providing evidence of the delivery of the SMS, fax, letter, etc. Sending the dismissal letter via Taxipost or another operator is therefore possible.

However, the law also stipulates that the employee must be informed, within three days of their dismissal, of the breaches justifying their dismissal for urgent reasons via a registered letter. To send such a registered letter, you must use an operator licensed to send registered mail. Until recently, bpost was the only active operator with such a license (valid until December 31, 2018; five other licenses have been granted to foreign operators, but they are not active). However, in May, TBC-Post (currently Mosaic bvba) was granted a license by the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications, which also covers the sending of registered mail.

With these two operators, the list is complete: if you send a "registered" letter via an operator that does not have a license, it is not considered a registered letter under the law, and the dismissal for urgent reasons will be invalid. Lastly, it is worth noting that the registered letter must be signed by hand, as the validity of a letter signed with a scanned and printed signature is subject to debate.