Unlawful dismissal due to a brawl outside the company’s premises

The Court of Cassation, with judgement No. 297, dated 9 January 2018, declared unlawful the dismissal for just cause of an employee who, after a heated argument with a colleague within the company’s premises that occurred at the presence of other employees and guests, continued the dispute outside the company’s premises, triggering a brawl that resulted in an injury to his colleague with a blade weapon. The Court of Cassation upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals with local jurisdiction and, in particular, that the conduct did not fall within those punished by collective bargaining agreement with the maximum penalty of expulsion. This was because the space-time element directly correlating the events that took place within the company’s premises was lacking. Thus, the Court ordered the dismissal unlawful, declaring the employment relationship terminated and ordering the employer to pay to the dismissed employee an indemnification ranging between 12 and 24 monthly pay based on the total salary paid, as established by article 18, paragraph 5, of Law 300/70, whose calculation was referred back to the court of second instance.