Dismissal for just cause: the immediacy of a disciplinary dispute must be automatically verified by a Judge

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 17371 filed on 26 August 2016, confirmed the law principle already confirmed with ruling No. 26655 dated 28 November 2013 according to which, for the legitimacy of a dismissal for just cause, "the immediacy of the employer’s reaction, as a constitutive element of the right of withdrawal, must be automatically verified by a Judge." In the case examined by the Supreme Court, the employer argued the invalidity of the judgement by which the Territorial Court – altering the decision of the Judge of First Instance – had declared the dismissal unlawful given the lateness of the disciplinary measure, although this ground of appeal had not been repeated in the appeal by the employee. The case-law in question suggests, in cases of disciplinary offence, to proceed against the employee promptly given that the immediate reaction of the employer may be subject to independent assessment by the Judge both in the first and/or second degree, even in the absence of a specific claim on that matter by the worker.