Reform of civil proceedings: the end of the Fornero procedure

On 10 March 2016, the Chamber of Deputies approved Bill No. A.C. 2953-A empowering Government to carry out a broad reform of civil proceedings, with a view to specializing and simplifying legal procedures, that among other things introduces changes also to the procedure to be followed in cases of unlawful dismissal. The Bill abrogates all 20 paragraphs of Section 1 of Italian Law No. 92 of 2012 (the “Fornero Law”) providing for a special procedure for unlawful dismissal disputes in those cases governed by Article 18 of the Workers’ Statute. Such disputes shall be handled through the standard labour procedure, which nevertheless is characterized by a number of peculiarities. In particular, the courts shall have to reserve specific days in the calendar for such cases, and shall deal with and settle such disputes in a speedy manner. The managers of the court offices shall be responsible for monitoring compliance with this provision. Furthermore, an interim provision specifies that the proceedings already instigated by means of a Fornero application filed prior to the coming into force of the enabling law, must be dealt with and settled on the basis of the old procedure. The Bill has now been submitted to the Senate for final approval. Thus a provision of law that has been with us for around 4 years now, could be eliminated in one fell swoop.