Dismissal is acceptable if exceeding the protected period is due to another illness

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 9395 filed on 12 April 2017, issued a ruling on the dismissal ordered to a disabled employee for exceeding the protected period, declaring the legitimacy of the order. In fact, the Court has confirmed the line of thought according to which absences connected to the status of disability cannot be calculated to exceed the protected period if the disabled person is assigned to tasks that are incompatible with his/her health conditions. This because the impossibility to perform derives from the violation from the employer’s part to meet the obligation to protect the physical integrity of the worker. At the same time, the Court has also clarified that if the absences (as in the case in hand) are due to other reasons or illnesses, the disabled worker can be dismissed for exceeding the protected period, just like the other employees. The Court has also pointed out that the exclusion of the days of inability to work is valid also if the illness affecting the worker is pre-existing at the time of hiring, as long as it does not fall within those that led to the obligatory hiring of the worker into the company.