Prohibition of dismissal justified by an objective reason and end of collective firing.

Government measures regarding employment and income protection introduced by the Decree-law no. 18 of March 17th 2020.

Prohibition of dismissal justified by an objective reason and end of collective firing.

21/03/2020 With the Decree-law no. 18 of March 17th, 2020, the measures taken following the sanitary emergency caused by the Covid-19 were extended to the whole national territory. This new (for the time being) legal and administrative regime develops into multiple provisions, which articulate in different fields of action. We’ll now analyze and present the new norms regarding the subordinate and... [Leggi tutto]
This was stated by the European Court of Justice

Companies are obliged to equip themselves with a safe system that detects the worker’s work schedule

This was stated by the European Court of Justice

13/11/2019 The European Court of Justice argues that enterprises have the obligation of noting “the daily working hours”. The Member States must require that every company makes use of a method that enables them to measure how much time each employee works for daily. Managing work hours in a correct way leads to an improvement of security conditions and maintains one’s health.... [Leggi tutto]
COMPANY LAPTOPS MUST BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR WORK

EMPLOYEE RISKS LOSING HER JOB DUE TO ONLINE SURFING DURING WORKING HOURS

COMPANY LAPTOPS MUST BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR WORK

11/02/2019 The holder of a medical office carried out a check on the computer that was assigned to the secretary, as he was suspecting that she surfed the web and Facebook during the majority of her working hours. By examining the secretary’s internet history it resulted that in the past 18 months she had accessed the internet 6 thousand times, 4500 of which spent on Facebook. The company... [Leggi tutto]
Court of Cassation, sez. Lavoro, sentence n. 11322/18

HIDDEN RECORDINGS IN THE WORKPLACE ARE LEGITIMATE

Court of Cassation, sez. Lavoro, sentence n. 11322/18

29/05/2018 In order to defend himself against the allegations of his company, an employee gathers on a USB key recordings of various conversations that took place during working hours and in the workplace which also engaged other employees, without them knowing it. The company, Alliance Healthcare Italia Distribuzione S.p.A, considers this behaviour illegitimate and contests the employee for... [Leggi tutto]
Court of Cassation, sez. Lavoro, sentence n. 10280/18; judgement of April 27, 2018

THE FACEBOOK FEED MUST NOT BE USED TO DEFAME THE COMPANY

Court of Cassation, sez. Lavoro, sentence n. 10280/18; judgement of April 27, 2018

13/05/2018  - Versione italia -    S.r.l. Elettronica Cortesi confronted an employee about some comments she posted on her Facebook feed, with which she expressed her disdain for the company (“I’ve had fucking enough of this shitty place and of the ownership). Specifying the name of her representative was irrelevant, as the addressee was easily identifiable.... [Leggi tutto]
Cassation sentence n. 22.148/2017

Installing audio-visual devices without authorization constitutes a violation, even with the employee’s consent

Cassation sentence n. 22.148/2017

16/04/2018 Italian Version     The sole administrator of a company had a surveillance system installed in a footwear store. This installation included 2 cameras connected to a Wi-Fi device, an adsl network and monitors that were able to transmit the images being recorded. It all occurred without having previously concluded an agreement with the trade union representatives and... [Leggi tutto]
SENTENCE OF EUROPEAN COURT

LIMITATIONS REGARDING THE EMPLOYMENT OF WORKERS IN MEMBER STATES

SENTENCE OF EUROPEAN COURT

19/03/2018 Italian Version   Employees of the European Community’s Member States, move freely without the old frontiers. National companies may second their employees in other Member  States applying to those workers their own national norms. Labour costs within the Member States vary from State to State. In some cases it is high while in others it is very low. This... [Leggi tutto]
Court of Appeals Work injunction n. 3977, 2018

Straining (forced stress) attenuated form of bullying: cause of liability compensation against the employer

Court of Appeals Work injunction n. 3977, 2018

08/03/2018 Italian version   The court of Brescia sentenced the employer to pay 11,329 Euros in compensation for damages suffered by the employee. She had been declared unfit for teaching and had been assigned to be school secretary; after this assignment, tension arose with the school management when she requested additional staff to carry out the administrative services. The head teacher... [Leggi tutto]

BE CAREFUL ABOUT KISSING AND HUGGING FEMALE EMPLOYEES

01/03/2018 Italian version     The Court of Florence sentenced an employer to one year and two months of reclusion. He was accused of having harassed and later on hugged an employee   with such strength that she couldn’t free herself while he kissed her various times on the neck and on the right ear, violently forcing her to suffer from sexual acts. The Court of... [Leggi tutto]
Court of Appeals,  sect. Work, 18 December 2017, n. 30323

Only because of the obvious non-existence of the fact can reintegration in the workplace be ordered

Court of Appeals, sect. Work, 18 December 2017, n. 30323

24/02/2018   Italian version   A worker has been fired because of a fact attributable to a justified objective reason. He was fired as a result of a magisterial ban against the company he worked for, which had noted the danger of mafia infiltration in the company due to the presence of workers with criminal records and in any case close to them, for kinship or affinity... [Leggi tutto]

HEIRS RECEIVE COMPENSATION FOR THE BIOLOGICAL DAMAGE OF THEIR RELATIVE

16/02/2018 Versione italiana The heirs of a deceased employee took action against the company in order to obtain the compensation which was owed to their relative, who had died ahead of time so was not given said compensation owed to him, in person. In particular they asked to be entitled to collect the compensation (owed to their relative) which regarded the biological damage which had... [Leggi tutto]
CASSAZIONE SEZIONE LAVORO SENTENZA N. 30.606 DEL 20 DICEMBRE 2017

EMPLOYEE SUFFERS PERSECUTION AFTER HIS REGISTRATION TO A TRADE UNION, COMPANY SENTENCED TO COMPENSATE HARASSMENT DAMAGES

CASSAZIONE SEZIONE LAVORO SENTENZA N. 30.606 DEL 20 DICEMBRE 2017

14/02/2018 Versione italiana An employee took action in court, alleging victimization at the hands of the company. The court considered the harassment allegations legitimate, as it was demonstrated in the lawsuit that the employee had suffered from retaliatory actions for having addressed the trade union organization to voice his complaints and safeguard his interests. As a result of his... [Leggi tutto]
FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS IN MILAN

BE WARY OF THE USE OF VULGAR LANGUAGE IN FRONT OF A FEMALE COLLEAGUE AT WORK, OTHERWISE RISK OF BEING FIRED

FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS IN MILAN

14/02/2018   Versione italiana The company challenged a worker to have made two inappropriate phone calls in the presence of a colleague. The content of the charge made by the company was: "During the first phone call, notwithstanding the presence of her colleague in the room, with a tone of voice that made the content of her conversation clearly audible to the other, verbatim was:... [Leggi tutto]

 This english section of the website is work in progress. We are going to describe job law in Italy.

 You will find all new acts governing the relationship between companies and employees.

 

New job act in Italy

20/02/2015 In this English section of the website, we are going to show the new Italian acts about labor relations and judicial protection of commercial credits. In Italy, employees were protected by art. 18 of act n. 300/1970 (usually called “employees statue”), until 2014: workers unjustly fired could sue their employer for being reinstated to their job and for damages (salaries from... [Leggi tutto]

Procedural violation and unlawful dismissal

04/04/2015 According to new rules, if a dismissal is judged unlawful for procedural violations, fired employees get a compensation, quantified in a month’s salary per year worked, from the minimum of six months, to the maximum of twelve months. This different compensation is paid only if dismissal isn’t declared illegal for more serious reasons, for example the absence of justification.... [Leggi tutto]

Redundancy

04/04/2015 According to new Italian job act, if a redundancy is judged unlawful, employees hired after February 2015 get a compensation quantified in two months' salary per year worked, from the minimum of four months, to the maximum of twenty-four months.New employees can’t obtain reinstatement anymore. The amount of compensation isn’t reduced, if the dismissed employee finds another job,... [Leggi tutto]

Dismissal for existing disciplinary offense

04/04/2015 If a dismissal for disciplinary offense is based on real facts, but disproportionate to the offense, the employee can only sue for damages. Compensation for damages is quantified in two months' salary per year worked, from the minimum of four months, to the maximum of twenty-four months. Disciplinary codes and collective agreement are decisive for the judgment of unlawful dismissal. Before... [Leggi tutto]

Calculation of damages

08/04/2015   New Italian Job Act has introduced a new system of calculation of damages for unlawful dismissal: two months’ salary per year worked. Salary underlying the calculation of damages is quantified dividing the month’s salary by 12 and multiplying by the paid months (they can be 13 or 14). If the employee doesn’t work all the year, the two months’ salary... [Leggi tutto]

The discretion of the court has been reduced

08/04/2015   The Italian government shows little esteem for the discretion of the court: new Italian Job Act exhaustively establishes the consequences of unlawful dismissal. Cases are regulated in details: reinstaitment can be ordered only, if the disciplinary offense doesn’t exist or isn’t committed by the employee. In all the other cases of unlawful dismissal, the court issues an... [Leggi tutto]


In Italy, employees were protected by art. 18 of act n. 300/1970 (usually called “employees statue”), until 2014: workers unjustly fired could sue their employer for being reinstated to their job and for damages (salaries from firing to reinstating). So, if the judge had declared unlawful dismissal, companies had to pay years of salary and social security contribution, even if they didn’t’ get any job performance by fired employees (Italian trials were really slow). From 2015, this won’t happen anymore. In case of unlawful dismissal, employers will only have to pay damages to workers. This compensation will be reasonable: from 4 to 24 months of salary (2 months per year of working). Employees won’t have the right to be reinstated to their job, except for specific situations. So, if he doesn’t appreciate the worker, the employer won’t be obliged to readmit him in his company (except for racial, political and religious discrimination). According to new acts, civil trials are faster, thanks to their computerization. Now payment orders can be issued in a few days. Before, it took several months. Besides, debtors that refuse payments are obliged to pay default interest of 9%. So they have no incentive to delay payments: this would be too expensive.  Creditors can ask the court for an order to search in public records debtor’s goods and current accounts to be attached (now access to records is allowed only to specialized agencies) . This new procedural instrument allows to attack debtor's assets more easily. Creditors will be satisfied effectively and more quickly. In this section of the website, we are going to show all this brandnew rules.