Case Law

Court of Cassation, with sentence no. 1693 of January 24, stated that the subordinate employee’s refusal of carrying out his work performance (e.g. in the case he/she is assigned to lower duties) can be lawful and, therefore, make unlawful the dismissal based on the principle of “self-protection” in the equivalent performances contract, if the refusal is balanced to the unlawful behavior of the employer and in compliance with the principle of good faith.

Court of Cassation, with sentence no. 1148/2013, stated that the maximum threshold of indemnity equal to 12 monthly wages, set by Law no. 183/2010 (so called “Collegato Lavoro”), in case the fixed term employment contract is converted in an open ended one, applies also in case of conversion of the temporary work (therefore, staff supply).

The Court of Cassation, with decision No. 106/2012, has stated that the employee, actually sick, cannot be dismissed only because he did not send the certificate in time, reducing the gravity of employee’s default.

Court of Milan, with sentence of November 28, 2012, stated that the breach of the obligation of so called repachage makes the dismissal for justified objective reason unlawful, but the consequence is just the indemnity for damages in favor of the terminated employee (and not the reinstatement), if the suppression of the job position is effective.

The Constitutional Court, with decision No. 287/2012, has decided that the reform of training provided for by Article 11 of Legislative Decree No. 138/2011 (converted into Law No. 148/2011) is unconstitutional because it invades the competences reserved exclusively to the legislative power of the Regions.