Court of Cassation: labour supply contracts and time limit

With its judgment No. 2734 of 11 February 2016, the Court of Cassation has ruled on whether the 60 day time limit applies to labour supply contracts. This is a much-discussed issue, following the introduction of article 32 of Law No. 183/2010 (the so-called ‘Collegato Lavoro‘), both by law scholars and by case law. Even the Ministry of Labour, by replying to questioning No. 12/2014, had put the expiry of labour supply contracts and the cases of oral dismissal on the same level, thus excluding the application of the time limits under article 6 of Law No. 604/1966 failing any notice of dismissal. Instead, the Court of Cassation deems such comparison unacceptable, laying stress on the fact that the worker must mandatorily comply with the 60 day time limit should the labour supply contracts brought to an end upon the lapse of the term or upon dismissal be challenged. At the same time, the Court of Cassation specifies that the term at issue must be calculated as from the expiry of the contract or as from the sending of the notice of dismissal, respectively.