A disputed written dismissal notice cannot be proved by witnesses, according to the Court of Cassation ruling no. 26532/2022. The dismissal is null and void for a lack of the required legal format
In its order no. 26532 of 8 September 2022, the Court of Cassation stated that the power attributed to the Employment Tribunal to admit ex officio any means of proof, including those outside the limits established by the Italian Civil Code, cannot apply to the written format required ad substantiam for the dismissal letter. Witness evidence of a contract or unilateral deed that is legally required to be in writing under penalty of nullity is not permitted. There is only one exception under Art. 2724 no. 3 of the Italian Civil Code, which is when the document has been lost unintentionally. According to the trial Court, based on a public order rule, a witness is inadmissible including ex officio at any proceedings stage and level.
REGULATORY REFERENCES
Before analysing the ruling and its place in relevant case law, we will mention the legal provisions applicable to the case examined.
As an exception to the general principle of format freedom, the legal system requires several formal, procedural and substantial employer obligations. Dismissal must be notified in writing and the notice must specify the grounds. This is required by Art. 2 of Law no. 604/1966, as amended in 1990, and by the Fornero Law. The legislation does not require customary formats, if the will is clear and unambiguous.
The dismissal is required to be in writing ad substantiam and, since it is a unilateral reception act, must be received by the employee to be effective (Art. 1334 of the Italian Civil Code). This is based on the presumed knowledge at the time of delivery to the recipient’s address, unless there is proof of a blameless impossibility of knowledge (Art. 1335 of the Italian Civil Code).
The dismissal notice may be hand delivered in the workplace and treated as such even if the employee refuses its reception. According to the Court of Cassation, “The recipient’s refusal of the dismissal notice in the workplace does not preclude the communication from being considered as delivered, since it is a unilateral reception act which is under the general principle that the recipient’s refusal cannot be to the detriment of the obligor and the presumption of knowledge rule under Art. 1335 of the Italian Civil Code” (Court of Cassation, ruling no. 21017/2012).
Under Art. 2725 of the Italian Civil Code, called “Deeds for which proof in writing or written format is required”, under the law or the parties’ will, a contract must be proved in writing, evidence by witnesses is admitted only in the case under no. 3 of Art. 2724 of the Italian Civil Code.
The same rule applies in cases where the written format is required under penalty of nullity.
Under Art. 2724 no. 3, of the Italian Civil Code, evidence by witnesses is admissible “when the contracting party unintentionally lost the document that provided proof.”
Art. 421 paragraph 2, first part, by which the Employment Tribunal “may order ex officio the admission of any means of proof, even outside the limits established by the Italian Civil Code.”
THE FACTS AND RULING OUTCOME
The Court of Appeal of Florence dismissed the complaint brought by the employer company against the Court of Florence’s ruling. The latter declared the ineffectiveness of an oral dismissal of an employee on 8 September 2017, ordered the worker’s reinstatement and the employer to pay compensation for damages amounting to her last full salary, less earnings from other sources, plus social security and welfare contributions, and any additional sums;
The local Court upheld the Court of First Instance’s ruling, which upheld the order at the summary proceedings, on the grounds that the company did not prove it had complied with the written format required ad substantiam, and that the evidence by witness acquired during the first instance proceedings was inadmissible.
The Court of second instance stated that the issue disputed was not that the employee, classified as a manager, was dismissed at a meeting held on company premises on 8 September 2017, in the presence of the CEO and two employees, but the written format of the employer’s termination and the notification method.
Applying the principles expressed in the Supreme Court’s ruling no. 11479/2015, a precedent was considered significant given the similarity of some of the facts (oral dismissal challenged by the employee, while the employer claimed the dismissal notice was hand delivered, which must be proven by witnesses). the Court of Appeal noted that if the dispute refers to the dismissal letter reception by the employee at the time of dismissal, that notification method cannot be the subject of oral evidence because the testimony would contain oral evidence of a document for which the written format is required ad substantiam. Furthermore, the oral evidence prohibition under Art. 2725 of the Italian Civil Code on documents which are legally required in written format under penalty of nullity, cannot be rebutted by exercising the Employment Tribunal’s investigative powers.
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