Dismissal justified by objective reasons: redistribution of tasks and increase in profits

The Court of Cassation, with its judgement No. 29238 dated 6 December 2017, ruled once again on the legitimacy of dismissal due to removal of the job position occurred as a result of a reorganisation aimed at increasing the efficiency and profitability of the company. First of all, the Court of Cassation upheld in its entirety the judgement issued by the court of appeals contested by the dismissed worker, giving continuity to its policy according to which a justified objective reason can occur even just with the different distribution of certain tasks among the staff in service, if implemented “with the purpose of a more efficient company management”. In other words, according to the Court, certain tasks can be redistributed among more than one worker, with “the final result of showing the redundancy of the job position of that employee assigned exclusively to that position“. Moreover, in the Court opinion, dismissal for justified objective reasons must not necessarily be due to a company crisis. Indeed, “in order to legitimise individual dismissal for justified objective reasons, the negative economic trend of the company does not constitute a factual requirement that the employer must necessarily prove, it being sufficient that the reasons concerning the productive activity and organization of work, including those aimed at a better management efficiency or an increase in profitability, determine a real change in the organizational structure through the removal of a given job position”.