{"id":10091,"date":"2025-07-28T13:51:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toffolettodeluca.it\/?p=10091"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:22:18","slug":"unlawful-dismissal-small-businesses-constitutional-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toffolettodeluca.it\/en\/unlawful-dismissal-small-businesses-constitutional-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Protection against unlawful dismissal in small businesses: the Constitutional Court ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Constitutional Court<\/strong> has ruled on the regime that safeguards small businesses<\/strong> established with legislative decree no. 23\/2015 for unlawful dismissals<\/strong> served to workers hired after 7 March 2015 (the so-called Contratto a Tutele Crescenti<\/em> or \u201cincreasing protection contract\u201d).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With decision no. 183 of 2022, the Constitutional Court had already examined the current compensation set-up, signalling the urgent need for new regulation. In the absence of any parliamentary initiative, three years later the Court has now ruled directly, replacing the legislator, in partial acceptance<\/strong> of the question raised by the Court of Livorno in its order of 29 November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With decision<\/strong> no. 118, filed on 21 July 2025<\/strong>, the Constitutional Court has, in fact, ruled on Article 9, first par. of Legislative Decree no. 23\/2015, pursuant to which the compensation paid<\/strong> for unlawful dismissals served by employers who do not meet the size requirements<\/strong> set forth in Article 18 of the Italian Workers\u2019 Statute (i.e. more than 15 employees<\/strong> per plant or per municipality, or more than 60<\/strong> in the whole of Italy), is recognised as half<\/strong> the amount applied to large businesses and, in any case, is capped at six months\u2019<\/strong> pay<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the view of the Constitutional Court, a cap<\/strong> of six months\u2019 pay, \u201cfixed and inflexible, irrespective of the seriousness of the unlawfulness of the dismissal\u201d, does not allow a judge to comply with the criteria of personalisation<\/strong>, adequacy<\/strong> and appropriateness<\/strong> of the compensation for the damage suffered by the unlawfully dismissed employee, nor is it suitable for \u201censuring that this compensation acts as a deterrent<\/strong> for the employer\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court has, therefore, on this point accepted the observations of the referring Judge, according to which the provision<\/strong> in question, in violation of the constitutional principle of equality, would result in unjustified unequal treatment<\/strong> compared to that of workers employed by medium-large companies, recipients of both reinstatement and indemnity, quantifiable up to thirty-six months’ salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, the mechanism, similarly censured by this Court in Tuscany, that halves the indemnity<\/strong> for \u201csub-threshold<\/strong>\u201d companies was considered lawful, as it can be modulated within a sufficiently wide range, from a minimum of three to a maximum of eighteen months’ salary, allowing a judge to adjust compensation to suit the specific details of each individual case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the measure once again reiterates the need for legislative intervention<\/strong> inspired by the principle that using the number of employees as the sole parameter for differentiating<\/strong> how remedies are calculated does no longer reflect the real economic strength <\/strong>of a company and the sustainability<\/strong> of the costs associated with unlawful dismissals. This is particularly relevant in a profoundly changed production context, in which even small businesses may have substantial capital and high turnovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo <\/strong>is at your disposal should you need any further clarification and\/or details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further information: comunicazione@toffolettodeluca.it<\/a><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the cap on compensation for unlawful dismissal by small businesses is unconstitutional, as it fails to ensure adequate, personalised redress and deterrence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":10082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-10091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash-insight","tag-dirigenti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnlawful dismissal by small businesses: Constitutional Court rules on compensation | Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional the six-month cap on compensation for unlawful dismissal by small businesses, calling for personalised and proportionate remedies. 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