ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Angelo Zambelli, Barbara Grasselli and Alberto Testi, Zambelli & Partners
8.2 Anti-Discrimination Italian legislation contains both a general principle of equality, which prohibits all forms of discrimination, as well as specific provisions against discrimination. According to the Italian Constitution, all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of sex, race, lan - guage, religion, political opinions, or personal or social conditions. The Workers’ Statute prohibits employment discrimi - nation, specifically those outlined below. • Discrimination based on union membership or activity: Employers cannot make hiring decisions, dismissals, job assignments, workplace transfers, disciplinary actions, or any other prejudicial actions based on an employee’s union membership, union activities, or participation in strikes. • Direct and indirect discrimination: Both direct and indirect discrimination are prohibited. Direct discrimination occurs when an individual is treated less favourably due to a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination involves seemingly neutral provisions or practices that disproportionately impact individuals with a protected characteristic. It is also unlawful to harass a person, violate their dignity or create a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment due to the person’s protected characteristic. Harassment based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or convictions, disability, age and sexual orientation and sexual harassment constitutes a very serious breach of employment obligations when it occurs within the company, regardless of who commits the harassment. This holds true provided the employer is aware of the harassment and fails to take necessary measures to stop it. An employee may file a claim for discrimination before the labour court. The court has the authority to order the employer to cease the discriminatory behaviour, to nullify the effects of the unlawful conduct, and to implement measures to prevent future discrimina - tion. Additionally, the court may award damages to
nity depending on the length of service and grounds for dismissal pursuant to the applicable NCBA. Redundancies A collective dismissal occurs in a large company, staffed with more than 15 employees, when at least five dismissals are served by the employer in a busi - ness unit or more business units located in the same province and within a period of 120 days, due to reduction, transformation or cessation of activity. Employees hired before 7 March 2015: • law No 223 of 23 July 1991 provides that in the event the employer does not comply with all the steps set forth for the procedure for collective dismissals, the employer shall pay the employee an indemnity ranging between a minimum of 12 months’ salary and a maximum of 24 months’ sal - ary; • if selection criteria are violated, the employer shall: (a) reinstate the employee unfairly dismissed; and (b) pay them an indemnity equal to the salary due between the date of dismissal and the date of the effective reinstatement, with a maximum of 12 months’ salary. Employees hired from 7 March 2015: • the employees shall be entitled only to monetary compensation and this compensation ranges from a minimum of six to a maximum of 36 months’ salary (the right to reinstatement is limited to cases where the dismissal was communicated orally); • even if the employer fails to adhere to the criteria for selecting employees for redundancy, the rem - edy remains limited to monetary compensation. Specific sanctions apply to unlawful dismissals related to collective redundancy involving executives. If the dismissal is in breach of either the procedure or the selection criteria, the employer shall pay the executive an indemnity ranging from 12 to 24 months’ salary, unless the applied NCBA provides different provisions on the amount of said indemnity.
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