The service contract and the dismissals at the time of the COVID-19 (Guida al Lavoro de Il Sole 24 Ore, 16 October 2020 – Vittorio De Luca and Antonella Iacobellis)

Faced with the pandemic emergency in progress, the Legislator and the Government have introduced rules aimed at safeguarding jobs, allowing the use of wage supplements and imposing a ban on dismissal for justified objective reasons pursuant to Article 3 L. n. 604/1966 and collective dismissal pursuant to Law no. 223/1991, except for the following hypotheses:

• definitive cessation of the business, with liquidation of the company (please note: the closure of a production unit does not in itself lead to the suspension of the ban on dismissal);
• collective company agreement with the comparatively most representative trade unions on a national level, with an incentive to terminate the relationship for the employees who adhere (with right to NASPI), even if it is a consensual termination (territorial or corporate divisions would seem excluded;
• bankruptcy without any provisional exercise of the activity, with total cessation of the same.

A further hypothesis was also introduced with respect to the prohibition of dismissal. The conversion of the D.L. n. 18/2020, through Law no. 27/2020, has in fact amended Article 46, regarding the suspension of dismissals according to which the suspension of collective procedures for staff reduction and those due to dismissals for justified objective reasons pursuant to art. 3 of the law n. 604/1966, do not apply in the “hypothesis in which the personnel affected by the dismissal, already employed in the contract, are hired following the takeover of a new contractor by virtue of the law, of the national collective labor agreement or clause of the contract“.

Source: Guida al lavoro de Il Sole 24 ore.