Indemnification only if the reason for dismissal is lacking

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 331 published on 10 January 2018, ruled once again on the penalties related to a dismissal for just cause deemed unlawful. In the specific case, an employee had been dismissed due to a change of corporate organisation triggered by a prefectural disqualification order due to alleged mafia infiltrations. Involved in the matter, the administrative court had then ruled unlawful the disqualification order, which led the employee to appeal the dismissal given that the reason leading to it was no longer valid. On the basis of this reasoning, the judge in charge ruled in favour of the employee and deemed application of the indemnification protection pursuant to paragraph 6 of article 18 of the Workers’ Charter in the case of dismissal “ruled void for violation of the reason requirement”,  with subsequent ruling against the employer and order to pay an indemnification ranging between 6 and 12 monthly pay based on the last total salary paid. The Court of Cassation, instead, was of a different opinion and ruled that the case in question did not fall under the case where specific proof of the non-existence of the fact on which the dismissal is based would apply (having verified that the disqualification order had been indeed issued); thus, deeming applicable the indemnification protection established by paragraph 5 of article 18, to be calculated as ranging between 12 and 24 monthly pay based on the last total salary paid.