Supreme Court ruling on reinstatement of worker in her job, commentary by Atty Basile and Atty Rubino

The Court of Cassation in its judgment no. 27334/2022 states that dismissal is to be considered null and void, where the allowed sickness leave has not elapsed, regardless of the number of employees in the company. If the employer is a small company, however, the so-called attenuated reintegration protection applies, pursuant to Article 18(7) of the Workers' Statute. The commentary by Evangelista Basile and Rosibetti Rubino on this ruling, which overturned the first two degrees of judgement, highlights its importance from a jurisprudential point of view. Our labour lawyers analyse the grounds of the judgment, in particular the normative references that were declared applicable to the case under examination. The Court's orientation is clear from this analysis: whether or not the 15-employee threshold is met cannot legitimise a diversification of the consequences of a null dismissal. According to the Supreme Court, this would be the only interpretation compatible with the need to ensure rationality and harmony to the system of protections in the case of dismissal.