No reinstatement to work in case of an invalid probationary period agreement (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 171 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Luca Cairoli)

In judgment no. 20239 of 14 July 2023, the Court of Cassation dealt with the issue of

dismissal due to unsuccessful trial period, in a case in which the probationary period agreement was

null and void. The Court ruled that workers subject to the so-called “rising protection” legislation

(i.e., workers hired after 7 March 2015) are only entitled to compensation, and not to

reinstatement to work. In support of its decision, the Italian Supreme Court noted that the dismissal

reform introduced by the so-called Jobs Act has limited the remedy of annulment of the dismissal to

disciplinary dismissal, and specifically, only to the case that the inexistence of the material fact

with which the worker is charged is proved in court; and it has therefore concluded that given the

residual nature of this remedy in the Jobs Act legal framework, dismissals notified during the

probationary period under an invalid agreement give rise only to the monetary compensation

remedy.