Reduction in worker wages, when is it lawful (Guida al Lavoro de Il Sole 24 Ore, 4 giugno 2020 – Vittorio De Luca e Antonella Iacobellis)

As known, in our legal system the general principle of irreducibility of remuneration is applicable whereby the worker has the right to receive the remuneration agreed upon with the employer.

In this regard, the Court of Turin, with the ruling no. 440 of 18 February 2015 had stated that “The principle of irreducibility of remuneration, set forth by art. 2103 of the Italian Civil Code, implies that remuneration agreed upon at the time of hiring cannot be reduced even following an agreement between the employer and employee and any agreement to the contrary is null and void in any case where the agreed upon compensation including for an individual contract is reduced” and had further explained that “in case of lawful exercise, by the employer, of the “ius variandi”, the guarantee of irreducibility of remuneration extends to the sole remuneration of the essential intrinsic professional qualities of the previous duties, but not those remuneration components that are paid to compensate particular procedures of the job, and i.e. extrinsic characteristics not correlated with the proposed professional qualities of the same and, as such, susceptible to reduction once those extrinsic characteristics that were compensated cease to exist in the new duties”.

Continue to read the full version of the article (in Italian).