Collective dismissal and end of activity: when the company closes down the notification must still be provided within seven days

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 11404 dated 10 May 2017, established that also in the case of collective dismissal due to termination of business, the term of 7 days for notifying the final communication on the application of the selection criteria for workers (criteri di scelta dei lavoratori) as per art. 4, paragraph 9, of the law 223/1991 must be respected, since it has fundamental value. With this decision, the Court rejects the assumption according to which, in the case of such a situation, there would be no need to apply the selection criteria, given that all workers would be dismissed. In the opinion of the Court, in fact, the obligation to notify ex post the methods of application of the selection criteria must be respected, since this ensures that the function of guarantee and control also in the case of end of the business activity is fulfilled. Indeed, the notification is necessary to verify that the decision to dismiss the entire workforce does not conceal different intentions, among which the transfer of the business activity or its resumption under a different company name or location.