Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides
information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway
which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Italy: Employers obligation to support redundant employees
Phase
Law 23 July 1991, no. 223, Rules on the Wage Guarantee Fund, redundancies, unemployment benefits, enforcement of European directives, job placement, and other labour market provisions
Native name
Legge 23 luglio 1991, n. 223, Norme in materia di cassa integrazione, mobilità, trattamenti di disoccupazione, attuazione di direttive della Comunità europea, avviamento al lavoro ed altre disposizioni in materia di mercato del lavoro
Type
Employers obligation to support redundant employees
Added to database
11 May 2015
Article
Law 23 July 1991, no. 223, art. 4 and 5. ; Legislative Decree of 8 April 2004, no. 110
Description
The rules on collective dismissals apply to companies and private employers staffed with more than 15 people. To fall within the scope of the legislation, the dismissals must involve at least five workers within a time span of 120 days. Legislative Decree of 8 April 2004, no. 110 enlarged the scope of Law no. 223/1991 to employers who are not entrepreneurs, also pursuant to judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) C-32/02 of 16 October 2003.
There is no statutory obligation upon employers to support redundant workers, except for the reemployment obligation in case of new hirings.
Nevertheless, in the framework of collective dismissal procedures, the unions and the management might agree on entitlements for workers leaving the company. Those can consist of incentives or benefits which are additional to those entailed by law or, more rarely, outplacement services. The latter might be provided with the support of regional governments as those have competencies over the setup and implementation of active labour market policies.
Commentary
As to collective agreements entailing the commitment of employers to support redundant workers, see Intesa San Paolo and TirrenoPower cases reported in the European Restructuring Monitor events database.
Additional metadata
Cost covered by
Employer
National government
Involved actors other than national government
Public employment service
Regional/local government
Trade union
Involvement (others)
None
Thresholds
Affected employees: 5 Company size: 16 Additional information: No, applicable in all circumstances
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