{"id":12709,"date":"2024-04-23T15:47:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T13:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zambellipartners.com\/?p=12709"},"modified":"2024-04-23T15:47:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T13:47:24","slug":"legislative-decree-no-23-2015-also-applies-to-employees-of-small-companies-hired-before-its-entry-into-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zambellipartners.com\/en\/legislative-decree-no-23-2015-also-applies-to-employees-of-small-companies-hired-before-its-entry-into-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislative Decree No. 23\/2015 Also Applies to Employees of Small Companies Hired Before Its Entry into Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once again, Legislative Decree no. 23\/2015 (Provisions on permanent employment contracts with increasing protection over time, implementing Law no. 183\/2014, the so called \u201cJobs Act\u201d) was under review by the Constitutional Court. This time, the Court found it in compliance with the Italian Constitution with reference to the extension of its discipline to all employees working in entities exceeding the threshold of fifteen employees after the date the Legislative Decree entered into force.<\/p>\n

Legislative Decree No. 23\/2015 Also Applies to Employees of Small Companies Hired Before Its Entry into Force<\/h2>\n
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The Italian Constitutional Court, on the legitimacy of Article 1, Paragraph 3, Legislative Decree No. 23\/2015 stated that it is in compliance with the Italian Constitution in the part where it allows the application of the unlawful dismissal regime for those hired after 7 March 2015 to all the employees working in companies that exceeded the dimensional limits referred to in Article 18 Law No. 300\/1970 as a result of hiring after that date. The Constitutional Court declared this in its recent decision no. 44 issued on 19th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2024, which, together with the other two this year, adds to the multiple interventions of the Constitutional Court on the so-called Jobs Act.<\/p>\n

In particular, the case before the Court of Lecce was about the challenge of a dismissal of an employee hired before 7 March 2015, who had invoked the application of the protections set out in Article 18 Law No. 300\/1970, as generally applied to those who were hired before that date in companies with more than fifteen employees. The company, for its part, insisted on the application of Article 1, Paragraph 3, Legislative Decree No. 23\/2015, objecting that \u201calthough at the time of dismissal the requirements of the Art. 18 [\u2026] were met, the numerical threshold had been exceeded after the entry into force of the aforementioned Legislative Decree No. 23 of 2015.<\/em>\u201d The Court of Lecce had doubted the constitutional legitimacy of this provision due to excessive delegation, with reference to the criteria set out in Law No. 183\/2014 enacting the related decree, which \u201cby delegating to the Government the provision of permanent contracts with increasing protections, limits its application to \u00abnew hires\u00bb.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court \u2013 valorising the \u201coverall aim<\/em>\u201d pursued by the legislator in 2014 of strengthening opportunities for entering into the labour market \u2013 instead concluded that it was allowed by the delegated legislator, \u201cin the exercise of its power to complete the framework of the discipline,<\/em>\u201d to \u201cregulate the position of employees in small companies, for whom there was no reinstatement protection regime pursuant to article 18 to be preserved.<\/em>\u201d More precisely, the Court states that for small companies being able to apply the provisions of Legislative Decree no. 23\/2015 to the entire workforce after exceeding the threshold of fifteen employees, regardless of each date of hiring, represents \u201can incentive (or the absence of obstacles) to grow in the company dimension.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In any case, taking into account the \u201cbalance desired by the delegating legislator,<\/em>\u201d the Italian Judge of Laws does not find any \u201cregression in peius<\/em>\u201d in the protections provided by Legislative Decree no. 23\/2015 for those employees already in force on 7 March 2015, to whom, before exceeding the size limit, the less favourable regulations of Law no. 604\/1966 applied.<\/p>\n

Worthy of note is the final consideration according to which \u201cthe discipline of the legislative decree, precisely because it is applicable to all new hires, which are increasing in number, tends to be the ordinary one,<\/em>\u201d while the discipline referred to in Art. 18 Law No. 300\/1970 for workers hired before 7 March 2015, \u201cnaturally sees its area of applicability narrowing over time until it will completely disappear.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-House Counsel<\/h2>\n

Practical Points<\/strong><\/p>\n