With ruling no. 7615 of April 15, 2025, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of the dismissal of an employee who had exceeded the maximum period of sick leave (i.e. “periodo di comporto” – the maximum duration of illness-related absence beyond which the employment relationship may be lawfully terminated), despite the employer’s earlier refusal to grant her a leave request.
In the case under consideration, the employee had initially requested vacation leave at a time when she was not suffering from any illness. Shortly afterward, however, she entered a new period of sick leave, ultimately leading to the exhaustion of the sick leave period. The vacation had been requested during a time of reduced staffing, with three out of seven employees already absent. Based on these organizational needs, the employer denied the request.
The Supreme Court found that two key conditions were not met: the vacation was not requested during an active period of illness, and the employee had not asked to use the vacation time to interrupt the running of the sick leaveperiod. Once the new illness began, the employee also made no attempt to interrupt the period using her previous request for leave.
The justices reiterated that vacation leave may suspend the sick leaveperiod only under specific circumstances – when the leave is requested during a period of illness, or when illness arises during already approved vacation.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court found that the employer acted lawfully in refusing the vacation request. Since no illness was reported at the time of the request, Article 2109 of the Italian Civil Code applied, giving the employer the authority to determine the timing of vacation leave, balancing business needs with employee interests.
As a result of the above, the dismissal was deemed lawful.
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