Freedom to Leave: The Principles and Norms of Restrictions on the Right to Resign of Public University Teachers

ABSTRACT The excessive restrictions on the resignation rights of public university teachers, especially high‐level talents, have affected the rights and interests of the legal flow of talent. Whether the employment contract can continue to be performed, whether the service period and the liquidated damages clause violate the provisions of the ‘Labour Contract Law of the People's Republic of China’ are valid, and the applicable standards of the law of the judicial organs are not uniform for the focus of these resignation disputes, which affects the stability of the law and judicial authority. The right to resign is the right to freedom, the right to struggle and the right to form, and it is also a basic human right, which should be guaranteed as a principle and restricted as an exception. The principle of labour law guides and regulates the restriction of resignation rights of public university teachers, which can be proved in theory and feasible in practice. The restrictions on the resignation right of public university teachers should be shifted from policy to law. The service period and liquidated damages, the legitimate reasons for resignation and the reasons for which resignation is not permitted should be stipulated by law. At the same time, the procedural conditions for exercising the right to resign and the legal liability for improper exercise of the right to resign should be scientifically constructed.