Decree Law no. 14 August 2020, no. 104 (the  “August” Decree) which extends the Prohibition of dismissalperiod for individual and collective redundancies following a staff reduction, introduced by the “Cure Italy” Decree for 60 days and extended by the “Relaunch” Decree until 17 August 2020. The August Decree precluded collective and individual dismissals for objective reasons by employers who have not benefited from the new 18 weeks of social security benefits or were exempted from social security contributions for four months provided by the Decree. This is without prejudice to cases where personnel involved in the termination, who were already employed under contract, were re-employed after a new contractor took over, under the law, national collective labour agreement, or contractual clause. Dismissal procedures initiated after 23 February 2020, shall remain suspended. The following are excluded from this prohibition: (a) dismissals due to the definitive termination of the company’s activity, following company liquidation without a  “going concern” basis, even if it involves part of the business, or if there is a company collective agreement, stipulated by the trade unions that are comparatively more representative at a national level, as an incentive to terminate employment. This is limited to workers who adhere to the agreement; (b) dismissals for bankruptcy, when there is no interim management of the company business, or its termination has been ordered.

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