The European Court of Justice, with judgment in Case 596/2012 of February 13, 2014, stated the illegitimacy of the Italian legislation on collective dismissals (Law 223/1991) with reference to the exclusion of executives from the procedure. The Court thus accepted the statement of the European Commission, which had started the litigation against the Italian legislation for a contrast with the EU legislation (Directive 98/59) which provides that the rules on collective dismissals apply to all employees, except fixed-term contracts, employees of public administrations and the crews of ships.
