New laws and regulations
A new remote work agreement for cross-border Italian-Swiss employees
The Italian and Swiss governments signed an agreement regulating remote work for cross-border employees. Starting retroactively from 1 January 2024 and until 31 December 2025, Italian-Swiss cross-border workers can work remotely up to 25% of their working hours, without prejudice to the cross-border employee status and the resulting tax regime.
Case law developments
Whistleblowing protections do not always apply
The Italian Supreme Court ruled that whistleblowing rights granted under the EU Whistleblowing Directive and the domestic law implementing it apply only when they are aimed at protecting a whistleblower against retaliation. On the other hand, the relevant protections cannot be invoked when the employee carries out their own autonomous investigations, breaching statutory law provisions to gather evidence for purely personal purposes and claims.
Non-compete covenants can be enforced in the territories where the work has its effects
A territorial labor court recently ruled that the geographical scope of application of a non-compete covenant cannot be limited to the place where the concerned employee physically worked or where the employer has its offices. Instead, according to the court, reference must be made to the place where the prohibited work produces its effects. Therefore, an Italian employee working in Italy for a new employer based in Italy but taking care of Asian and other non-Italian markets is not in breach of a covenant limited to Italy.
Reductions in workforce in only one plant, division or department
The Italian Supreme Court clarified that when an employer intends to reduce the workforce in a single plant, department or division and starts a collective dismissal affecting the employees employed there, it is required to inform its works councils and the trade unions of the reasons why the redundancies concern only those employees and no one else in the company. Failure to do so may render the trade union agreement concluding the collective dismissal ineffective, and, as a result, the dismissed employees may claim that their dismissal was unlawful.
Preventing an executive-level employee from working may lead to their resignation for just cause
According to the Italian Supreme Court, an employer that prevents one of its executive-level employees from working for five days, blocking their email account and forbidding them from accessing the company's offices is behaving unlawfully. In this regard, the employee is entitled to resign for just cause and receive payment of the indemnity in-lieu-of notice contractually due.
