New laws and regulations
New bills to allow employees to participate in company management
The Italian Constitution provides that employees should be entitled to participate in the management of their employing entities but Italian law has never regulated such co-determination rights. Starting on 9 January 2024, however, the Italian Parliament began discussions on four different bills that would delegate collective bargaining to regulate co-determination rights for employees and their right to distribution of profits.
Maximum monthly unemployment allowance
Each year, the Italian Social Security Agency updates the maximum monthly unemployment benefit that employees are entitled to if they lose their jobs. On 7 February 2024, the Authority clarified that, for 2024, the maximum monthly unemployment allowance is EUR 1.550,42.
Case law developments
Disciplinary dismissal and timeframe to start a disciplinary process
According to a principle set by Italian case law, an employee can be dismissed for just cause only if the employer starts a disciplinary process against them in a timely manner. The rationale behind such principle is that the employee must be put in a position to effectively defend themselves. The Italian Supreme Court confirmed this requirement but specified that to evaluate the timeliness of the disciplinary charges, the time necessary for the employer to investigate and assess the possible disciplinary relevance of facts must also be taken into account.
Dismissal of executive-level employees
Pursuant to Italian law, executive-level employees — i.e., the highest-ranked employees in the Italian employment system — are subject to a more "at will" dismissal regime compared to other employees hired under an Italian employment contract. In this regard, according to a recent ruling by the Italian Supreme Court, it is possible to terminate an executive-level employee if there is an economic need to cancel the executive's position to implement a corporate reorganization and the same reorganization does not, in reality, result in a discriminatory measure. For instance, the executive’s dismissal may be deemed null and void if they can prove, based on objective elements, that the reorganization was aimed solely at terminating elder employees.
Parental leaves for same-sex couples
The Labor Court of Bergamo ruled that the Italian Social Security Agency must pay same-sex couples the same indemnity for parental leave provided for heterosexual couples. According to the judge, the impossibility for same-sex couples to apply for parental leave on the Agency's website represents a restriction of rights and "unjustified discrimination against same-sex parents."
