Thanks to the passage of the Dignity Decree by the Italian Parliament last summer and the recent decision of Italy’s Constitutional Court, the employment law regime in Italy has changed direction. The problem is that the direction it has taken is uncertain, creating concern both for employers and employees. The current situation is that parts of the Jobs Act – the major employment law reform in Italy that came into force in 2014/2015 –  have been struck down either by the new legislation or by the court decision and in certain areas a legal vacuum has been created. To fill the void, a political solution may be required.

As noted in my last Blog entry of 2018 (See Italian Constitutional Court partially repeals Jobs Act rules – What’s next? Link), the Italian Constitutional Court handed down a major decision that declared unconstitutional the compensation rules set out in the Jobs Act for claims of unlawful dismissal on the grounds that these rules were not in line with the principles of “reasonableness and equality” and that they were in conflict with the concept of “protection of work” as granted by articles 4 and 35 of the Italian Constitution.