The Supreme Court of Cassation, in its decision 1514/2021, published on 25 January 2021, referencing well-established principles, provides a clear overview of the production-related factors that justify dismissal for objective reasons, emphasising that once the objective reason for the work termination has been established, it is unnecessary to investigate its potentially retaliatory nature.
The Court’s ruling is based on an appeal brought by an employee against a decision of the Court of Appeal of Cagliari, which had declared legitimate the employee’s dismissal, communicated based on justified objective reasons, by a religious congregation where the employee worked as manager.
More specifically, the District Court had considered the dismissal to be legitimate in view of the economic difficulties affecting the facilities managed by the Congregation, which had imposed reduced costs and a revamped work organisation, implemented by removing the employee’s official role which represented the highest cost for the Congregation, and the duties in question were assigned to another nun without pay.
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