DLP Insights

Provisional agreement on corporate sustainability due diligence directive: text still to be examined by the Legal Affairs Committee and approved by the European Parliament sitting as a whole and by the European Council. On 14 December 2023, the European Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the text of the “Corporate sustainability ....

Directive (EU) 2023/970 introduces new employee protection and new employer obligations on equal pay and transparency. The Directive requires Member States to adapt their local legislation, promoting (and even imposing) wage transparency including in relation to private employment relationships. The same obligations will apply to employers with between 150 and 249 workers, who will be ....

After a silent and rapid incubation, computer systems that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence (also known as Artificial Intelligence), have become reality and represent one of the hottest challenges (if not the greatest and more complex) which enterprises are now held to face and in most cases, not to put at stake ....

With the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of Directive 2023/970 which introduces new employee protections and new employer obligations on equal pay and transparency ‘the Member States of the European Union have the obligation to adapt their local laws by encouraging (and also imposing) pay transparency also in the private employment ....

Worker’s recidivism also taken into account for purposes of correct legal classification of conduct within context of just cause for dismissal. The Italian Court of Cassation, Employment Division, with judgment no. 15140 of 30 May 2023, returned to deal with the dismissal for just cause of a worker on a fixed-term contract for repeated negligence in ....

Whistleblowers liable for similar actions The legislation that protects an employee who reports unlawful conduct which he/she has become aware of due to his/her duties is ‘aimed at preventing unfavourable consequences for the fact in itself of having reported unlawful conduct, but certainly does not create exemptions with respect to the offences that that person ....

The Court was called upon to rule on several issues, including the refusal by a well-known food delivery company to communicate to the plaintiff trade unions the information required by Art. 1-bis of Legislative Decree of 26 May 1997 introduced by the Transparency Decree and requested by specific communication, dated 22 December 2022 It is ....

As only geolocation data referring to kilometres travelled were considered, the interference in the applicant’s privacy was limited and proportional to the intended purpose. Dismissal by an employer based on the data from the geolocator of an employee’s company car is lawful and the collection and processing of the relevant data does not result in ....

The Reform of the Civil Proceedings, (Italian Legislative Decree No 149 of 10 October 2022) will extend, with effect from 30 June 2023, the ‘assisted negotiation’ procedure to employment disputes. From that date the employer and employee, if assisted by lawyers or employment consultants, will be able to sign final and non-appealable conciliation minutes (in ....

The Court of Rome differs from the Capitoline Court of Appeal guidelines over the exclusion of the dismissal prohibition for managers during the Covid emergency. Measures to combat Covid 19 – Decree Law no. 18/2020 and Decree Law no. 104/2020 – Dismissal prohibition for objective justified reason – Manager – Dismissal for position redundancy – ....

The agreement reached between the parties under the assisted negotiation procedure will be incontrovertible and subject to the same stability regime for conciliation agreements signed under any “protected procedure”, under Art. 2113, fourth paragraph of the Italian Civil Code. The Reform of the Civil Process, (Legislative Decree 10 October 2022, no. 149 of 10 October ....

Contracting a viral infection at work is treated as an illness covered by INAIL and proof of the aetiological link can be provided in court by rebuttable presumptions In its Order no. 29435 of 10 October 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the Palermo Court of Appeal’s ruling and provided a different interpretation of the evidentiary ....

The selective criterion based on the number of employees is unsuitable to legitimise a diversification of the consequences of null dismissal If the nullity of dismissals for exceeding the protected period is confirmed, the special penalty regime under paragraph 7 of Art. 18 of the Workers’ Statute applies. This includes the reinstatement, regardless of the ....

In the Court’s interpretation, the right to an allowance in lieu of untaken leave, at the end of theemployment relationship, is intrinsically linked to the right to paid annual leave In its ruling no. 21781/2022, published last 8 July, the Court of Cassation, Labour Section, ruled (along with several other issues on public employment) on ....

Diversity and inclusion represent one of the main challenges law firms have been called to fight globally, on one hand to promote the undisputable values they represent and, on the other hand, to properly bring into the work environment of the law industry one of the most important (if not the most fundamental) principles which ....

Art. 2087 requires employers to take measures to prevent situations harmful to the worker’s physical health and personality based on experience, technology, and type of work. This “open” rule obliges the entrepreneur to adopt legal measures for specific and generic work risks based on common experience or necessary to ensure work safety considering the type ....

In ruling no. 1240/2022 of 25 March, the Court of Foggia confirmed the prevailing principle that the burden of proof to demonstrate the contested oral dismissal is on the employee. In this case, the employee claimed he was orally dismissed on 3 January 2020, stating that he was notified of an “immediate suspension of employment” ....

During proceedings for anti-union conduct under Art. 28, Law no. 300/1970 brought by the FIOM CGIL against the Italian branch of a multinational group as part of a collective dismissal procedure due to the cessation of production activities, the Court of Ancona, Employment Section, held that the employer, who omitted the consultation procedure under art. ....

In its ruling no. 2286 of 3 December 2021, the Court of Venice, Civil Section II, ruled on the legitimacy of an audio recording made by a third party during a court case. Two of the three defendants in their proceedings against the same employer, had produced an audio recording of a work meeting held ....

On 12 November 2021, in its ruling no. 33809, the Court of Cassation returned to the issue of employer controls using electronic tools, considering the principles and restrictions applicable to personal data protection. The Supreme Court confirmed that an employee’s PC data are company assets. Therefore, an employer can acquire and use the data for ....

With its order no. 32506 of 8 November 2021, the Court of Cassation addressed the issue of judicial review of the technical, organisational and production reasons underlying transfers under art. 2103 of the Italian Civil Code. The case in question arose from an employee’s legal application for a declaration of the unlawfulness of the transfer ....

Digitalisation and sustainability are two issues at the heart of the debate about the challenges companies will face soon. To date, the term “digitalisation” (or “digital transformation”) still commonly refers introducing digital technologies into the workplace and applying them to the tools available to personnel to perform work. The evolution of technologies and processes increasingly ....

The Court of Cassation, with order no. 23418 of 25 August 2021, returned to deal with the subject of requirements for validity of non-competition agreements. The Court’s ruling is based on appeal lodged by a bank manager who (among other claims submitted) had challenged a signed non-competition agreement, considering it vitiated, since the payment was ....

In a ruling dated 8 July 2021, the Court of Trento, upheld a disciplinary dismissal (for just cause) imposed on a teacher who repeatedly refused to wear a protective mask while working at school. In this case, the teacher, employed by the Autonomous Province of Trento, refused to comply with an order issued by the ....

The Court of Cassation, in ruling no. 20560 published on 19 July 2021 confirmed the facts subject of a plea bargain in a criminal case must be established (with the effect of res judicata) to any pending civil proceedings concerning the same findings. The Supreme Court’s ruling stems from the lawful dismissal for misconduct by ....

Although the redundancy fund for the workforce (or a department) takes precedence over sick pay, the protected period continues to apply. This means that the dismissal of an employee who exceeded the protected period in such circumstances is legitimate. In a 17 July 2021 order, the Court of Foggia ruled on the validity of a ....

The Court of Cassation has recently confirmed that the ‘abusive’ use of leave to care for disabled family members, as referred to in Article 33, par. 3 of Italian Law no. 104 of 1992, not only justifies dismissal, but can also be ascertained by private investigators. In this case, the employee had challenged his dismissal ....

With Judgment no. 12632/2021 of 12 May 2021, the Court of Cassation once again addressed the issue of employee transfer due to environmental incompatibility in the workplace, ruling out that this amounts to mobbing if the transfer is not intended to persecute the employee, rather to restore serenity in the workplace. The ruling derives from ....

With its order dated 19 May 2021, issued at the end of an interlocutory judgment, the Court of Modena held that suspension from work and pay of two non-vaccinated healthcare operators was lawful.  The case arose from the refusal of two physiotherapists working in a nursing home to vaccinate against Covid-19, with the employer’s ensuing ....

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the strict restrictions on the possibility of concluding fixed-term contracts have been suspended for the obvious purpose of favouring employment (albeit fixed-term), which was severely damaged by the economic fallout of the epidemic. Indeed, as early as with the law converting Decree Law no. 18/2020 (so-called  Cura Italia), the ....

Six years ago, on 7 March 2015, the Jobs Act came into force, providing innovative protection if there is an unlawful dismissal for new employees under permanent contracts. At the time, this measure was considered revolutionary for the principles governing the existing protections. It intended to regulate the consequences of unlawful dismissal automatically and based ....

One of the emergency measures adopted to tackle the epidemiological emergency and prevent it from disrupting work and social life is currently the focus of a heated debate in Italy – namely, the prohibition of dismissal for justified objective reasons, introduced in Italy by the “Cura Italia” decree and subsequently extended several times. The repeated ....

The debate on the reliability of family members’ testimonies is recurrent, as they have a personal interest in the trial’s outcome.    The Supreme Court has returned to the subject with its ruling no. 2295 of 2 February 2021, stating that for testimonial evidence, a witness who has a family or marriage relationship with one ....

The Court of Trento, in a ruling dated 21 January 2021, stated that an employee who is absent from work due to a fiduciary isolation ordered due to their (avoidable) choice to spend holidays abroad constituted just cause for dismissal. The Court’s ruling stems from an appeal brought by an employee who had been dismissed because, ....

The Court of Rome, with its recent ruling no. 5961 of 21 January 2021, addresses the limits and conditions for the use of remote working. In the current emergency framework, access to remote working has been made flexible for the majority of workers. This included a significant reduction in the number of formal procedures. In ....

Budget Law 2021 covers a wide range of measures in labour, taxation, liquidity support areas and business development and, in 1,150 paragraphs, outlines the financial manoeuvre rules. Art. 1, paragraph 279, of Law 30 December 2020, no. 178, extended until 31 March 2021 the possibility of extending or renewing fixed-term contracts by repealing the strict ....

On September 15, 2020, the trade union associations ASSODELIVERY and UGL-RIDER signed the first National Collective Bargaining Agreement (“NCBA”) governing the relationship between Bike Delivery Riders so called “Riders” and their companies. The agreement, called “National Collective Bargaining Agreement for governing the delivery of goods on behalf of third parties, carried out by self-employed workers, ....

With order 1888 dated 28 January 2020, the Court of Cassation has ruled on a case of dismissal for unlawful justified objective grounds with the consequent reinstatement in the job based on article 18 of Law No. 300/1970 (in the text prior to the amendment brought about with Law No. 92/2012). By expressing a general ....

The Court of Cassation, with judgement no. 54 filed on 3 January 2020, returned to express its position regarding the distribution of responsibilities for accident prevention obligations in limited companies. Expressing a general principle, the Court first of all pointed out that in corporations the employer’s obligations under the law relating to the prevention of ....

The Court of Cassation, by Ruling no. 18411 dated 9 July 2019, returned to analysing the delicate issue relating to the breach of the relationship of trust, following the abuse by the worker of the permits provided for by Law no. 104/1992. The case originates from the dismissal for just cause inflicted upon an employee ....

The Court of Cassation, with judgment 16998 on 25 June 2019, returned to analyse the judgment annulling the resignation in regards the salary arrears accrued in the period between the resignation annulment and the judgment itself. The case originates from legal proceedings to cancel a resignation brought about by a worker who claimed to have ....

The Court of Cassation, with judgement 14063 of 23 May 2019, returned to rule on the principle of proportionality between the expulsive sanction and the non-fulfilment, specifying that the judge cannot be exempt from the concrete assessment of proportionality between the fact disputed and the sanction adopted, even if the conduct is indicated in the ....

In its recent judgement no. 285 dated 1 February 2019, the Court of Milan ruled on the legitimacy of an employer’s conduct in requiring a candidate to submit a certificate of pending proceedings and whether the candidate must comply with the request. The case originates from the disciplinary proceedings initiated against a worker for not ....

By way of judgment No. 4672 filed on 18 February 2019, the Court of Cassation has once again ruled on the lawfulness of dismissal for elimination of a job position when such position is reinstated a few months after the employer’s termination of the employment relationship. The case refers to an electronics engineer specialised in ....

The allocation of the burden of proof in appeals against verbal dismissal is once again in the spotlight. In fact, in judgment 3822 of 8 February 2019, the Court of Cassation reiterated, thus confirming its stance on the matter, that the burden is always on the employee to provide evidence (not always straightforward) of a ....

In judgment No. 436/2019 filed on 10 January 2019 the Court of Cassation confirmed that, based on the constitutional principle of freedom of private economic initiative (art. 41 of the Constitution), an entrepreneurial decision to eliminate a job position cannot be challenged. The Court passed the judgment in a case concerning a director of human ....

A worker was dismissed also on the basis of previous disciplinary offences. Nevertheless, the previous examples were not included in the employer’s disciplinary notice with a view to substantiating the existence of repeated misconduct, but were merely referred to in the notice of dismissal to provide support regarding the harm caused to their relationship of ....

Using a peculiar argument, the Court of Cassation, with judgment no. 31763 of 7 December 2018 ruled on the possibility to consider the inconvenience caused by continuous and repeated sick leaves as grounds for dismissal for a justified objective reason. The case at hand revolves around the dismissal served on an employee who had been ....

A serious threat made by an employee against his immediate superior constitutes a breach of the duties of cooperation, loyalty and subordination and sufficient grounds for dismissal for just cause. This is the principle of law confirmed on 3 December in the Court of Cassation judgement No. 31155/2018. The case analysed arose from the disciplinary ....

Dismissal ordered due to elapsing of the grace period must be ordered without delay. This was the ruling of the Court of Cassation with judgement no. 29402 dated 15 November 2018. The legal proceedings originated from the legal action brought forth after a dismissal ordered for elapsing of the sick leave grace period established by ....

With a recent order (no. 24118 of 3 October 2018, the Court of Cassation has once again voiced its opinion on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the refusal of a worker to comply with the employer’s request to perform lower rank duties than those to which he/she is entitled. The dispute started with the request ....

With judgement dated 15 October 2018, No. 25711, the Court of Cassation provided again its opinion on what are the requirements (and to which magnitude they are relevant) for a work relationship qualified as independent to be reclassified as employment relationship. The ruling originated from an appeal filed at the Court of Milan by eight ....

With its judgment no. 21569 of 3 September 2018, the Court of Cassation ruled on the consequences of disciplinary dismissal after expiry of the term set out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The ruling originated from the appeal brought by a worker against his dismissal enforced after expiry of the term of 10 days set ....

Con sentenza 17 agosto 2018, n. 20761, la Corte di cassazione, Sezione Lavoro, è tornata ad occuparsi del licenziamento per superamento del periodo di comporto, confermando il proprio orientamento sui potenziali vizi formali che potrebbero inficiarne la validità. Nello specifico – tra le ragioni del ricorso – il lavoratore aveva denunciato la falsa applicazione delle ....

With judgment No. 11645/18, the Court of Cassation made clear once again its opinion on the relation between the right of criticism, protected under the Constitution, and the civil duty of loyalty and honesty in the relationship between employees and employers. In the case in question, an employee of a famous telephony company had been ....

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 10280/2018, handled once again a case of dismissal ordered due to disparaging statements against the employer and its representatives through Facebook. In the case in question, the judges of the court (Court of Forlì and Court of Appeal of Bologna) had already deemed legitimate the dismissal ordered to ....

Con la sentenza n. 7581 del 27 marzo 2018, la Corte di cassazione è tornata ad occuparsi della discussa questione del cd. diritto di accesso agli atti nell’ambito di un procedimento disciplinare. Nel caso di specie, i giudici di merito avevano ritenuto illegittimo il licenziamento intimato ad un dipendente per aver svolto altra attività lavorativa, ....

With judgment no. 6047 of 13 March 2018 the Court of Cassation has dealt again with the issue of dismissals imposed during sick leaves, stressing that it is important for a worker to do all that he/she possibly can to put all of his/her efforts at the service of the employer in observance of the ....

La Suprema Corte con sentenza n. 82 del 4 gennaio 2018 occupandosi di una richiesta di danno da demansionamento...

Il Tribunale di Milano, con ordinanza del 13 giugno 2017, ha statuito che non legittima il licenziamento la condotta...

Con ordinanza 1889/2017 del 5 giugno 2017 il Tribunale di Pisa si è pronunciato su un caso di licenziamento per scarso rendimento, individuandone interessanti profili di legittimità...

È opinione comune, avallata da interpretazioni anche autorevoli, che il licenziamento motivato dalle performance insoddisfacenti del prestatore di lavoro sia pressoché impraticabile...

Con sentenza 24 novembre 2016, n. 24023, la sezione lavoro della Corte di Cassazione è tornata a occuparsi delle ipotesi in cui i comportamenti privati del dipendente possano...

Con sentenza 27 ottobre 2016, n. 21710, la sezione lavoro della Corte di Cassazione è tornata ad occuparsi delle peculiarità nei...

La Sezione Lavoro della Suprema Corte di Cassazione, con la sentenza 20 settembre 2016, n. 18409, ha confermato...

Con la circolare n. 3 dell’1 febbraio 2016, il Ministero del Lavoro ha fornito le prime indicazioni operative sulla nuova disciplina...

Ai sensi dell'art. 32, comma 4, lett. d), della L. n. 183/2010, in caso di somministrazione irregolare, l'accertamento della...

Year 2015 just came to an end and it will no doubt be remembered as the one that...

With its ruling no. 19465 of 2015 the Cassation Court returned to decide on the limits to the irreducibility of salary principle granted to the worker.