22 October 2026
Individual dismissal
Dismissals in small businesses: compensation of up to 14 months’ pay even below 15 employees
Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional the provision which, under the mandatory protection regime (tutela obbligatoria) for workers hired before 7 March 2015, made any increase in the compensation for unlawful dismissal conditional upon the employer employing more than fifteen employees.
The ordinary compensation remains between 2.5 and 6 months of the last overall de facto remuneration (retribuzione globale di fatto). It is now possible, including for employers below the threshold of fifteen employees, to raise the maximum to 10 months’ pay for length of service exceeding ten years and to 14 months’ pay for length of service exceeding twenty years.
The increase is not automatic: the Judge determines the compensation taking into account the criteria laid down by law, including length of service, the conduct and circumstances of the parties and the number of employees.
The Constitutional Court removed only the size requirement that prevented access to the wider range.
23 September 2026
TFR, notice and other termination payments
TFR: remuneration already statute barred must also be included in the calculation
Court of Cassation, Labour Division
A doctor had obtained recognition of the subordinate nature of the collaborations carried out for a hospital authority. The Court of Appeal had held part of the pay differences claimed to be statute barred and, in recalculating the TFR (trattamento di fine rapporto, the statutory severance entitlement), had excluded the remuneration relating to the statute barred periods.
The Supreme Court nevertheless confirmed that, in privatised public employment (pubblico impiego contrattualizzato), the limitation period for pay claims runs even during the employment relationship, also where a formally independent collaboration is subsequently classified as subordinate employment.
The rules governing the TFR are, however, different: the right to it arises upon termination of the relationship and only then does the limitation period begin to run. The basis for calculating the TFR therefore also includes remuneration that is statute barred as such but still relevant for determining the entitlement to the severance payment.
The Court accordingly quashed the judgment on this point and ordered a fresh calculation of the TFR.
6 October 2026
Temporary agency work
Unlawful subcontracting where there is no autonomous production result
Court of Cassation, Labour Division
A food company had entrusted certain processing operations at its own plant to a cooperative. The inspectors had found an unlawful interposition of labour (interposizione illecita di manodopera), a finding upheld at first instance and on appeal.
The Supreme Court reiterated that subcontracting (subfornitura) must concern processing operations or services having their own autonomy and recognisable as a result, even a partial one, in relation to the client’s production. The mere provision of workers integrated into another party’s production cycle and directed by the client company is not sufficient.
In the case examined, there was no part of the production managed autonomously and at the cooperative’s own risk.
The Court of Cassation also ruled out the classification as travel allowances (trasferta) of the sums so described in the payslips, since the workers habitually performed their activity in the same place, and dismissed the appeals.
10 October 2026
Fixed term employment
Fixed term public employment: the new compensation for abuse applies to pending proceedings
Court of Cassation, Labour Division
A public sector worker had sought damages for the unlawful repeated renewal of fixed term contracts. The Court of Appeal had declared that the matter in dispute had ceased to exist (cessata materia del contendere), considering her subsequent stabilisation in permanent employment capable of making good the damage caused by precarious employment.
The Supreme Court clarified that the new rules on compensation for abuse of fixed term contracts in public employment, introduced in 2024, also apply to pending disputes, in the absence of different transitional provisions and subject to internal res judicata (giudicato interno).
The provision establishes compensation ranging from 4 to 24 months of the reference pay for the purposes of the TFR (trattamento di fine rapporto, the statutory severance entitlement), graduated according to the seriousness of the abuse, the number of contracts and their overall duration, without prejudice to proof of greater damage.
Stabilisation does not in itself exclude the compensation but may affect its quantification, where directly connected to the abuse. The Court of Cassation upheld the ground of appeal and remitted the case for the assessment of compensation.
22 October 2026
Trade union relations
RSA: national representativeness must be assessed within the relevant sector
Court of Cassation, Labour Division
A trade union had challenged its exclusion from collective bargaining and from the possibility of setting up an RSA (Rappresentanza Sindacale Aziendale, Workplace Trade Union Representation). The lower courts had rejected the claim on the ground that the union had neither signed the collective agreement applied nor taken part in its negotiation.
The Supreme Court took into account the new criterion introduced by the Constitutional Court: RSAs may also be established within trade union associations that are comparatively more representative at national level. The comparison does not concern all productive sectors indiscriminately, nor can it be based solely on company or territorial representativeness: it must refer to the organisations operating in the employer’s sector.
The Court therefore upheld the appeal and remitted the case to the Court of Appeal to apply the criterion of comparative representativeness within the relevant sectoral scope.
29 September 2026
Social security and contributions
Early exit schemes towards retirement: access also open to workers under the fully contributory system
INPS
INPS has issued instructions for paying isopensione (the bridging pension funded by the employer until retirement) and the extraordinary allowances of the solidarity funds (fondi di solidarietà) also to workers with no contribution record as at 31 December 1995, who are subject to the fully contributory pension system.
To access the benefit, the right to a pension must accrue within the maximum duration of the exit scheme. Where retirement requires a threshold amount, the check is carried out on the date of entry into the exit scheme, comparing the value of the pension, calculated on the contributions already accrued and the coefficient for the worker’s age on that date, with the social allowance (assegno sociale) in force at that time.
For the old age pension the parameter is one social allowance; for early contributory retirement at 64 it is three times that amount, reduced to 2.8 or 2.6 times for women with children. INPS also specifies that the related contributions (contribuzione correlata) paid by the employer count towards meeting the contribution requirements.
13 October 2026
Apprenticeship
Traineeship and apprenticeship without training: subordinate employment established from the outset
Tribunal of Milan
A worker, initially engaged as a trainee and subsequently hired under an apprenticeship contract, sought a declaration that a subordinate employment relationship on a permanent basis had existed from her first entry into the company and challenged her subsequent dismissal.
The Tribunal found that, already during the traineeship, the employee performed ordinary administrative tasks under company instructions, working predetermined hours and receiving a fixed payment. Her duties then continued without interruption during the apprenticeship, which was declared null for lack of genuine training.
The relationship was classified as subordinate employment on a permanent basis from 15 March 2021, with pay differences awarded. The Judge also declared the dismissal null and void owing to its retaliatory nature, ordering reinstatement and damages; the claim for demotion was, however, rejected.
