Dismissal for just cause: when is it possible?

The dismissal for just cause, what is informally called “dismissal in the trunk», Among the ways to conclude a working collaboration (in this article you will find some advice to do it in style) is probably the most painful. When is this scenario likely to occur? We asked the lawyer Giovanni Gaudio, expert in labor law and author of the recent “Complex organizations and protection of the working person” (Giappichelli).

Let’s start from the basics, from the definition of this unhappy event. «The dismissal, technically called” for just cause “, is the one ordered by the employer for reasons that do not allow the continuation, even provisional, of the relationship. In the case of immediate dismissal, the employer is not obliged, as in other cases of justified dismissal, to give the worker notice. In other words, the employer can “sever” the relationship immediately ».

Such a sudden interruption cannot occur under all circumstances. In short, solid reasons are needed to justify such a decision. In general, they can be grouped into two macro categories. “The former refer to a serious breach of contractual obligations by the worker: think, for example, of the employee who is repeatedly absent from work without providing a prior justification, the worker who commits serious insubordination towards his superiors or who quarrels with colleagues leading to a fight, or even to that worker who steals documentation reserved for the employer to pass it under the table to a competitor ». Serious attitudes, which would inevitably compromise the relationship between employer and employee.

The second group, on the other hand, includes those behaviors that take shape during non-working hours, but which “in any case cause the employer’s confidence in the worker to fail. For example, a bank teller who issues bad checks, a driver who uses drugs or a security guard involved in a robbery. ‘

Is it easier to get fired today than in the past?

We asked the lawyer Gaudio if today dismissal for just cause is easier than in the past. The answer is no, “why the reforms did not affect the so-called “reasons” for the dismissal, that is, on the reasons which, according to the law, authorize the employer to sever the relationship with one of its employees “.

What the reforms of the last few have modified are instead «the protections in the event of unjustified dismissal, that is, those that are due to the worker when the employer, although unable to fire, has decided to do so anyway. Until a few years ago, the unlawfully dismissed worker was generally reintegrated into his job. Today, however, reintegration has a residual application space, for which the worker is generally responsible for a monetary allowance in the event of unlawful dismissal ».

So in general “it is not easier to dismiss than in the past but, in the event that a judge finds the illegality of the dismissal, the worker is less protected than in the past, because, in general, he will not have his job back, but will only have the right to receive a sum of money. And if the “price to pay” for unlawful dismissal is lower than in the past, this could today incentivize employers to proceed with the dismissal anyway, even when it is not supported by a robust justification ».

TFR, Naspi and other rights after dismissal for just cause

This is another significant point to clarify: does a worker who is fired on the spot keep the rights of everyone else? Undoubtedly, he does not have the notice required by other types of dismissals, as the name itself suggests. “Nothing changes, however, for the severance pay: severance pay, holidays and residual leave, accruals of thirteenth and fourteenth are always paid to the worker at the end of the relationship, regardless of whether he was fired on the spot. Nothing changes, yet, for NASpI, which is up to all workers who have involuntarily lost their jobs, including the case of immediate dismissal »concludes Gaudio.

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