Court of Cassation: Discriminatory redundancy subject to civil penalties (Il Sole 24 Ore, p. 44, 30 October 2014)

In its Judgment No. 19665 of 18 September 2014, the Court of Cassation, sitting in plenary session, resolved the conflict in case law concerning the obligation to pay civil penalties on social insurance contributions owed by the employer in the case of unlawful redundancy. In particular, a conflict in case law arose concerning the version of art. 18 of Law 300/1970 that was is force prior to the Fornero reform as regards the applicability of civil penalties on social insurance contributions owed for the period between the date of redundancy and the order of reinstatement. The plenary session held that the offence of failure to remit social insurance contributions and the resulting imposition of penalties apply only if the redundancy was declared ineffective or void. With respect to the text in force since 2012, the Court held that if the redundancy is defective in a way that makes it voidable (lack of good cause or justified reason, whether objective or subjective), civil penalties do not apply, since the law expressly excludes this obligation. But if the redundancy should be declared void because it is discriminatory, penalties will be owed to the extent provided for cases of failure to remit social insurance contributions.