Poor performance dismissals: a new frontier in Italy

The evolution of the Italian Labour Court's view of the dismissal of employees for poor performance is a useful point of reference to address a topic that is closely related to the interpretation of the changes currently underway in the workplace here on the peninsula. Perhaps the most obvious changes have occurred in our current post-pandemic era. In more detail, employers are now more closely assessing the traditional employment relationships in Italy – which are fundamentally based on a work performance being carried out for a defined period of time for a certain remuneration. Today this view is changing – and slowly Italian law is beginning to catch up by loosening certain rigidities built into historic labor regulations. This is especially true when one speaks of the termination of an employment relationship at the employer's.

One of the most notable differences of the Italian Civil Law legal system when compared to common law systems is that there is no particular need written in government labor regulations which establishes a strong connection between an employee's performance directly with their employment relationship. The only exception to this is when one speaks of self-employed workers. 

According to the traditional employer – employee relationship in Italy - the employment contract allows an employer to 'buy' time from an employee by paying them a (monthly) salary for a certai...