On December 24, 2014, the Council of Ministers approved the final version of the Jobs Act, labor reforms that over the past few months have sparked a lot of criticism and mobilized a large part of the public debate. On Wednesday, January 21, LUISS will hold a conference on this decree and on its possible effects on the labor market and on the political scene, whose elements will be introduced by Professor Roberto Pessi, professor of Labor Law and Vice Provost in charge of teaching at LUISS.
In an article written for the Maxims of Labor Law (the law journal of the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore), Professor Pessi argues that the Jobs Act has reopened a long-standing political conflict with regard to individual and collective dismissals by companies. "What is striking in this controversy,” says the professor, “is the reflection that the legislation does not concern, as it did in the labor act of 2012, those currently employed, but only new hires. It is therefore a change that will first be felt at the end of the current decade and that will materialize significantly in the following one."
From a legal point of view, the act’s goal is to implement the reform of Article 18 of the Statute of Workers’ Rights, which was already initiated by Law no. 92/2012. "The new law gives a logical order to the court’s evaluation process, which in its first phase refers only to the classification of the type of dismissal (discriminatory, disciplinary, or economic); then, following that process, to qualify the dismissal as legitimate or illegitimate. Here and only here do the legal aspects come into play."
The new legislation preserves reinstatement in the case of dismissals that are deemed discriminatory or illegal, but excludes it for economically motivated layoffs, both individual and collective. "The decision met with the approval of the business world and harsh criticism from trade unions. In fact, the exclusion of reinstatement for individual and multiple layoffs had already been passed in parliamentary legislation. What was unexpected was the exclusion of reinstatement for collective layoffs as well. The current legislative framework is centered entirely on the agreement that supports the power of the union in negotiations. The exclusion of reinstatement, if it does not alter the central role of that agreement, certainly changes the need for it."
"It is a reform for the future with a long transition period,” continues the professor, “in which old and new rules on sanctions for unfair dismissal coexist.” However, we are facing an evolution of the species: "The role of the executive will become central once again; political parties will again become important for reform; public investment will be reevaluated; employment agencies will become more dynamic and multifaceted in how they serve employees; and the trade unions, no longer seen as representative of the entire working class, will see their powers of intermediation reduced. All of this revolves around the social ‘disintermediation’ that is becoming the new guiding star for the redesign of constitutional equilibrium.”
The Jobs Act and labor market reform conference will be held on Wednesday, January 21 at 3:00 p.m. in the Sala delle Colonne at the LUISS campus at Viale Pola. Speaking on the topic, aside from Professor Roberto Pessi, will be the labor lawyers Edoardo Ghera and Franco Liso, the Honorable Carlo Dell'Aringa and macroeconomics professor Pietro Reichlin.