Transfer of business even if in the case of sole transfer or personnel – applicability of the double limitation period of appeal upon formal communication

The Court of Busto Arsizio with judgement No. 264 dated 12 July 2016, stated that the law principle according to which a transfer of business pursuant to art. 2112 of the Italian civil code exists also when transferring, without moving materials or assets, personnel between the transferor and the transferee, even if the personnel is not highly specialized and whose activity is unskilled labour, provided that the financial organisation coincides with the workers’ organisation. In the same ruling, the Court noted that although Article 32 of the Law 183/2013 (the so called "Collegato Lavoro"), paragraph 4 letter c) extended the limitation terms of the provisions related to dismissals "upon transfer of employment contracts occurred in accordance with art. 2112 of the Italian Civil Code with term effective from the transfer date", it is also clear that the double limitation period (60 days for an out-of-court appeal and 180 days for the filing of the appeal) applies only when there is a formal written notice of the transfer of business. Therefore, in cases such as the present one where "the existence of a transfer of business unit is controversial (…) no limitation term can be applied."