Cassation Court 1 September 2015: succession of contracts and illegality of probation period

With its ruling no. 17371 of 1 September 2015, the Cassation Court established that a probation period cannot be included in the employment contract, if the hired employee had already performed an identical job at a different company, but that company had had the same contract. The judges further stated that regarding this principle, it was completely irrelevant if the jobs had a different name: what counts, are the actual contents of the duties given to the employee. Based on this, if the contents remain unchanged in the transfer from old to new employer – contractor – it is not possible to include a second probation period. Worthy of note is the explanation provided by the judges, according to which in cases of succession of contracts, this principle is only valid if the sector collective contract excludes the possibility for the enterprise taking over to hire personnel of the old enterprise in the same jobs with probation period.