The Court of Cassation, with sentence No. 11465/2012, stated the principle based on which a company, which needs to obtain a more efficient management in order to face an economic downturn, may dismiss an employee for “justified grounds” (so called “giustificato motivo”). The court cannot neither criticize the economic opportunity nor, therefore, weigh the company decision of the abovementioned choice, but can simply verify the actual existence of the reasons, in order to avoid the use of the organizational need as a pretext. Based on these assumptions, the Supreme Court has, in the case at issue, validated the dismissal for abolishing of the working position, notified to an employee for facing – by a reduction of the managing costs – the contraction of economic business activity and for preventing that structural crisis situations that could damage the company’s balance.
