Lawful dismissal of negligent workers with performance lower than their peers (Il Quotidiano del Lavoro, 20 June 2017 – Alberto De Luca, Luciano Vella)

With judgement 1889/2017 dated June 5, 2017, the Court of Pisa issued a ruling on a dismissal case due to low performance, identifying interesting legitimacy profiles. According to the court, dismissal for just cause due to poor performance is lawful when the employer demonstrates that: – there is a significant difference between the processing times prescribed for the work and those actually carried out by the worker; – the performance is lower than average compared to the same activities performed by other staff members. The Labour Judge, making reference to a principle established in the case-law (Court of Cassation, Labour Division, Judgement No. 18678/2014), ruled that “poor performance of the Defendant, protracted and significant” is the basis for dismissal for just cause since it breaches “the employer’s trust in the proper fulfilment of future  performance”.