New laws and regulations
New procedure for voluntary resignations: the guidelines from the National Labour Inspectorate
In December 2024, the Italian Government passed new rules for voluntary resignations following unjustified absences. In particular, if an employee is absent without justification for a period longer than the term provided by the collective bargaining agreements or, in the absence of a contractual provision, for more than 15 days, the employment relationship will be automatically terminated at the employee's will. In this case, an employer is required to notify the competent Labor Inspectorate to allow it to carry out the relevant checks. The National Labour Inspectorate has given some guidelines to follow in these cases:
- The employer is required to notify the competent territorial Inspectorate via certified email, filling out a specific form provided by the Inspectorate.
- The Inspectorate has 30 days to carry out its checks, also by means of interviews with the concerned employee.
- Employees are required to prove the reasons justifying their absence and the reasons why they could not notify the employer of said absences.
- If, following the checks, the Inspectorate deems that the absence was justified, the employment relationship must be restored. Otherwise, the employment relationship is deemed terminated.
- If the Inspectorate finds that the employer engaged in serious misconduct, the resignations may be qualified as having been tendered for just cause (without notice).
Case law developments
Redeployment after dismissal
Under Italian laws, before making a non-executive employee redundant, the employer is required to check if the employee may be redeployed to another position within the company, also by means of demotion. However, the Italian Supreme Court recently clarified that this redeployment obligation does not require the employer to create new ad hoc roles or assign the redundant employees to duties that are not compatible with their professional background.
Straining the workforce
Italian labor laws require employers to protect their employees' health and safety, not only from a physical point of view, but also with regard to their mental health. The Italian Supreme Court ruled that this obligation to protect health and safety is not only breached in the case of bullying, but also in the case of straining the workforce. In fact, an employer may be held liable if it allows, even negligently, the existence of a stressful environment that causes damage to employees' health, or engages in conduct that may induce discomfort or stress.
Unlawful use of caregivers' leaves of absence
The Italian Supreme Court confirmed that employees who misuse their caregivers' leaves of absence can be dismissed for just cause. In fact, in a recent decision, the Court ruled that an employee caught playing sports while on leave can be lawfully dismissed, as the leave is given specifically to assist disabled relatives and not for other purposes.
Scope of whistleblowing protection
The Italian Supreme Court confirmed a well-established principle, according to which whistleblowing reports cannot be issued for personal reasons or for claims and disputes inherent to the employment relationship. Italian legislation, implementing the EU Whistleblowing Directive, has also introduced this principle.
Dismissal of disabled employees on sick leave
According to Italian employment laws, employees on sick leave cannot be made redundant during a protected period, the length of which varies based on the collective bargaining agreement applied to the employee's employment relationship. Once the protected period is over, an employer is free to dismiss a sick employee, by giving the employee notice as contractually due.
According to the Italian Supreme Court, however, the same protected period cannot be applied equally to disabled and non-disabled employees, as this would constitute indirect discrimination. The Court deems that the employer must check if the employee's sick leave is related to their disability and, in this case, identify possible reasonable accommodations before proceeding with dismissal.
