Individual dismissal in Italy:
Under Italian law, employment contracts can not be terminated without a justified reason which are.
- just cause: consisting in a serious misconduct, which does not allow the continuation of the employment contract even on a provisional basis and with immediate effect (Article 2119 of the Italian Civil Code). In this case, the employment contract terminates without notice.
- justified reason, that can be:
- subjective
- (“giustificato motivo soggettivo“): employee serious failure. If the dismissal is caused by a failure of the employee to observe his legal duties or contractual obligations, a special procedure is necessary in order to serve the dismissal (so called disciplinary dismissal);
- objective
- (“giustificato motivo oggettivo“): economical reasons concerning production, activity or organization of the employer.
In case of unfair dismissal (i.e if the judge considers there are no ground for the dismissal), the employer can be punished with different remedies according to the dimensions of the company and on the type of violation.
Some employment relationships are not included in the above dismissal “rights” and can be terminated without any reason, for example:
- domestic workers;
- employees during the trial period;
- employees above retirement age;
- executives (“dirigenti”);
- professional athletes;
- apprenticeship contracts, at the term of the contract.