New laws and regulations
Digital platforms: a new European Directive for contingent workers
European contingent workers will have greater protections thanks to a new directive that the EU Parliament and Council have agreed to implement. Under this new directive, contingent workers will have the same status as employees; a presumption of employment will be triggered any time at least two of the following criteria will be met, without prejudice for the Member States to extend this list:
- The platform sets a maximum compensation for the workers.
- The workers' activity is supervised, also through electronic means.
- The tasks are controlled and distributed through the platform.
- The platform can control the working conditions and limit the workers' working hours.
- The platform imposes rules of conduct and/or uniforms.
Obligations under the new EU Directive on the gender pay gap
No later than 7 June 2026, EU Member States are required to implement EU Directive 2023/970, which introduces new transparency obligations for employers aimed at narrowing the gender pay gap. Specifically, employers will be required to: (i) during the hiring phase, specify the compensation offered directly in the job offers (it is worth noting that the employer will not be able to ask information on salary earned in previous jobs); (ii) provide, upon request of the employee, information regarding individual and average salary levels, broken down for each gender; (iii) in case of inspection, provide details to the Labour Inspectorate and other competent authorities on why gender pay gaps exist between men and women for the same duties.
According to the Directive, these new obligations must be complied with:
- Each year, starting from 7 June 2027, for employers employing at least 250 employees.
- Every three years, starting from 7 June 2027, for employers employing between 150 and 249 employees.
- Every three years, starting from 7 June 2031, for employers employing between 100 and 149 employees.
Case law developments
Dismissal for prolonged sickness: formal requirements
According to the Italian Supreme Court, when an employee is terminated because he/she exceeded the protected period against dismissal during sickness (so-called periodo di comporto), the dismissal letter must specifically indicate the days in which the employee was absent. Failure to comply with this requirement can lead to the dismissal being deemed unlawful.
Dismissal of working mothers and wind-up of business operations
Under Italian statutory law, a working mother cannot be dismissed for economic reasons during her maternity leave and until her child is one year old unless certain extraordinary circumstances occur, including wind-up of business operations of the employing entity. In a recent ruling, the Italian Supreme Court clarified that the concept of wind-up cannot be interpreted extensively and, in order for the dismissal to be lawful, the business activities must be completely shut down. Indeed, if the business activities are simply reduced or kept going for a certain period of time, the dismissed employee would be entitled to be reinstated at work.
