De Luca & Partners

Theft of company assets: what consequence? (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 172 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Luca Cairoli)

Sad dismissed worker taking his office supplies with him

By Order no. 27353 of 26 September 2023, the Court of Cassation ruled on the case of an employee

who had been dismissed for stealing company assets of low value. The employee challenged his

dismissal and brought a legal action asking to be reinstated back to work. The Court, while ruling

out the annulment of dismissal, held that the dismissal was disproportionate to the modest value of

the goods stolen by the employee and sentenced the Company to pay compensation to the

employee. The Court of Cassation, after hearing the case, confirmed that, since the charge (i.e.

theft) fell within those for which the applicable National Collective Bargaining Agreement provided

for dismissal, the employee’s dismissal could not be annulled. However, since the sanction imposed

was clearly disproportionate to the offence committed, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of

the trial judges, holding that compensation under Article 18(5) of Law no. 300 of 1970 was

applicable in the case at hand.

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