Corporate chats “intended for work-related communications by employees accessing them through company accounts constitute work tools, pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 2, of Law No. 300 of 1970, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 151 of 2015, as they are functional to the performance of work. Such function is not affected by the fact that the chat may also be used for private conversations and outside working hours and may be freely installed by private users. In the present case, it was used for work-related matters. The admissibility of the information collected through the chat is subject solely, pursuant to paragraph 3 of the above-mentioned Article 4, to the provision of ‘adequate information’ to the employee regarding the methods of use of the tools and the performance of monitoring activities, as well as compliance with Legislative Decree No. 196 of 30 June 2003”.
This was stated by the Italian Supreme Court in Judgment No. 32283 of 11 December 2025, addressing the admissibility of corporate chat content for disciplinary purposes.
The case originated from the dismissal of an employee employed as a Reliability and Maintenance Engineer, who had been charged with breaching the confidentiality obligations relating to the employee selection process, as provided for by company policy and, in any event, falling within the duties of diligence and loyalty under Articles 2104 and 2105 of the Italian Civil Code.
The allegations raised by the employer were based on material collected through corporate chats in which the employee had disclosed confidential information concerning the recruitment process of job candidates. The chats were initially acquired following a report from another employee and subsequently through internal investigations.
The employee challenged the dismissal, disputing the admissibility, for disciplinary purposes, of the conversations extracted from a corporate chat. The Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal rejected the claim, holding that the acquisition and use of the chats were lawful and that the company’s decision was proportionate.
The Italian Supreme Court declared the employee’s appeal inadmissible, observing that:
(i) corporate chats, when used for work-related communications through company accounts, may qualify as “work tools” pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 2, of the Workers’ Statute. This function is not excluded by the fact that the platform may also be used for private conversations and does not, in itself, affect such qualification when the tool is actually used for work-related purposes;
(ii) data collected through work tools may also be used for disciplinary purposes, provided that the conditions set out in paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the Workers’ Statute are complied with, namely that the employee has been previously and adequately informed about the methods of use of the tools and the performance of monitoring activities, and that data processing complies with personal data protection legislation.
In the present case, the judges of second instance had found that the requirement of “adequate information” had been satisfied through the adoption of a company policy, accessible to all employees and referred to in the employment contract, which included instant messaging among corporate electronic systems and expressly provided for its possible use for disciplinary purposes in the event of suspected unlawful conduct.
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