{"id":24256,"date":"2019-11-04T10:17:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.delucapartners.it\/news\/the-unilateral-termination-of-the-contract-by-the-employer-before-its-expiry-is-unlawful\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:14:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:14:51","slug":"the-unilateral-termination-of-the-contract-by-the-employer-before-its-expiry-is-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delucapartners.it\/en\/insights\/case-law-en\/the-unilateral-termination-of-the-contract-by-the-employer-before-its-expiry-is-unlawful\/","title":{"rendered":"The unilateral termination of the contract by the employer before its expiry is unlawful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nCourt of Cassation, under ruling no. 21537 of 20 August 2019, declared the\nunilateral termination by the employer of the collective agreement before its\nnatural expiry date unlawful, even if said contract is withdrawn from its trade\nassociation (in this specific case, Confindustria).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facts of the case<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nDistrict Court had partially reformed the first instance decision, confirming\nit insofar as it had rejected the objection of the Federazione Italiana\nLavoratori Chimica Tessile Energia Manifatturiera<\/em> – CGIL Provinciale <\/em>[Provincial\nGeneral Confederation of Italian Workers] and the counterclaim of the employer\ncompany against that decision. The Court considered the conduct of the company\nto be anti-union, involving its failure to inform and consult a representative\ntrade union regarding the negotiation and subsequent conclusion of a new\ncollective agreement with the other trade unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCourt of Appeal found that the employer company, having withdrawn from\nConfindustria, was no longer required to comply with the trade union agreements\nsigned by the association of the sector (in this specific case, Federgomma)\nand, therefore, was free to apply to its employees the National Collective\nBargaining Agreement referred to in the company agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntrade union that signed the contract with Federgomma appealed in cassation\nagainst the decision of the Court of Appeal, to which the Company stood up to\nwith its defence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndecision of the Court of Cassation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, the Supreme\nCourt referred to its previous opinion, according to which in the collective\nagreement, the possibility of termination only applies to the contracting\nparties<\/strong>, i.e. the trade unions and employers’ associations, whilst the\nindividual employer is not permitted to withdraw unilaterally therefrom, not\neven on the grounds of excessive costs under Article. 1467 of the Italian Civil\nCode, except in the case of company agreements entered into by the individual\nemployer with local trade unions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court then\nreferred to another previous opinion in respect of which the employer is\ngranted the right to withdraw from a<\/strong> post-corporate collective\nagreement<\/strong> entered into for an indefinite period of time<\/strong> and without\na predetermined expiry date. This is because the agreement cannot bind all\nthe contracting parties forever. Otherwise, the cause and social function of\nthe collective bargaining agreement would be invalidated, <\/strong>the governance of\nwhich mustalways be based on a constantly evolving socio-economic\nreality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again,\naccording to the Court, this principle is valid provided that the withdrawal is\nexercised in accordance with the criteria of<\/strong> good faith and fairness<\/strong>\nin the execution of the agreement and must not<\/strong> be detrimental to the\nintangible rights of workers<\/strong>, resulting from the previous, more favourable,\nregulations and entered definitively in their assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis context, the Court refers to two rulings (please see ruling 14511\/2013 and\nruling 24268\/2013), according to which, in our legal system, there is no\nobligation for the employer to negotiate and enter into collective agreements\nwith all trade unions, with the possibility of signing a new collective\nagreement with trade unions other than those that have negotiated and signed\nthe previous agreement coming under negotiating autonomy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nin the Court’s opinion, the issue in question in this specific case is the\napplication of the collective agreement until its natural expiry date, in the\nabsence of notice of termination by the eligible persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthis point, the Court considers that there is no principle or rule which would\nlead to the conclusion that a new collective agreement can be applied before\nthe expiry date of the collective agreement currently in force, which the\nparties have undertaken to comply with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\na result, the Supreme Court referred the ruling back to the District Court,\nwith a different composition, which shall be responsible for reconsidering it\nbased on the principles set out in the ruling in question, in addition to the\nsettlement of litigation costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Court of Cassation, under ruling no. 21537 of 20 August 2019, declared the unilateral termination by the employer of the collective agreement before its natural expiry date unlawful, even if said contract is withdrawn from its trade association (in this specific case, Confindustria). Facts of the case The District Court had partially reformed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,177,190],"tags":[1027],"class_list":{"0":"post-24256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-case-law","7":"category-insights","9":"tag-contratto-collettivo-en"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe unilateral termination of the contract by the employer before its expiry is unlawful - De Luca & Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delucapartners.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24256\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The unilateral termination of the contract by the employer before its expiry is unlawful - De Luca & Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Court of Cassation, under ruling no. 21537 of 20 August 2019, declared the unilateral termination by the employer of the collective agreement before its natural expiry date unlawful, even if said contract is withdrawn from its trade association (in this specific case, Confindustria). 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