DLP Insights

The Collective agreement’s lists about “just cause” are no-exhaustive

Categories: DLP Insights, Case Law

05 Apr 2018

The Supreme Court (judgement no. 6608/2018) stated that the typing of just cause for dismissal listed in the collective agreements are as an example and are not necessarily binding, having therefore the Court the power to expand or to circumscribe the extent to disciplinary purposes. Within its powers, therefore, the Judge, in the opinion of the Court, is free to infer the right cause of dismissal even missing a specific provision of the collective agreement, in the presence of a serious non-complying conduct of the employees or otherwise exclude it, as the result of the assessment of the concrete circumstances characterizing the defaulting behavior, although the collective agreement ascribes this specific behavior in the category of the dismissal without notice. The power of the judge would be constrained only if the collective agreement would provide for a purely conservative sanction, even if the employee’s defaulting behavior would integrate a just cause of dismissal. In this case, the provisions of the collective agreement should prevail on the more stringent evaluation of the judges regarding the existence of the just cause, on the assumption that the rules about just cause and proportionality of the sanctions would be favorably suspendable.

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