Italy Update: During the period of comportment, the days of precautionary quarantine or isolation from Covid-19 should not be counted

The defendant company dismissed one of its employees for exceeding the period of conduct, equal to 180 days pursuant to the CCNL applied, basing its withdrawal on absence due to illness from 27 November 2020 until 3 June 2020. In particular, from 26 November 2020 to 15 December 2020, the employee had been in home isolation as positive for covid-19.

The employee brought an action before the court, requesting reinstatement in the workplace, in addition to the payment of an allowance commensurate with the last salary accrued from the day of dismissal until that of the actual reinstatement.

The court upheld the appeal and declared the dismissal of the applicant illegitimate and/or null for failure to exceed the period of conduct, since, in the application of art. 26 of Legislative Decree no. 18/2020 (cd. Decreto Cura Italia), the period of absence of the employee between 27 November 2020 and 15 December 2020 could not be counted for these purposes.

Indeed, the legal provision provides: “until 31 December 2021, the period spent in quarantine with active surveillance or in fiduciary home stay with active surveillance (…) it is equated with illness for the purposes of the economic treatment provided for by the reference legislation and is not countable for the purposes of the period of comportment“.

It follows that neither the time spent in precautionary quarantine nor, as in the present case, that spent in home isolation, for those who have tested positive for the coronavirus, can be assessed for the purpose of exceeding the period of conduct.

Accordingly, the Court of First Instance ordered the defendant to reinstate the applicant in the workplace and to pay the employee compensation equal to the wages due and not paid, from the date of dismissal until that reinstatement.

By Quorum, Italy, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm. 

For further information or for any assistance please contact italy@transatlanticlaw.com

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