Collective dismissal in Italy:

As per Law n. 223/1991, the colelctive redundancies procedure concerns any Italian company or subsidiary with more than 15 employees which intends to dismiss at least 5 employees within 120 days in a single unit or in different units located in the same province when the dismissals are linked to a downsizing/reduction or the transformation of activites/work, or when the company intends to cease its activity.

The company must follow a specific procedure provided by law, giving all the needed information to the unions.

The procedure opens with a written communication to the RSA (unions), to the Trade Work Council Organizations and to the Provincial Employment Office (or to the Ministry and to Regional Employment Office, if the different units are located in different Italian regions).

The formal letter must indicate the reasons that have brought about the labour surplus (redundancies), the reasons why it is not judged possible to take alternative measures to the intended dismissals, the number and job classification levels of the surplus employees, the dates when the dismissals are to take place and any measures that are planned to mitigate the social consequences of the collective dismissal, ect.

The RSA and the unions may request a joint examination procedure to examine with the Company the reasons for the labour surplus and some eventual social measures.

If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the next step is a conciliation phase conducted by the Labour Office.

Failure to follow properly the above procedure is penalized by the obligation to reinstate the employees who have thus been dismissed unlawfully.