00224 - Employment Law (M-Q)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students with the regulatory framework of the subject - in the usual partition in employment relationship and collective labour law – on the basis of the articulation of its sources (domestic and European Union law, collective agreements, and individual contract, as well as case law) and considering the aspects and issues that are currently most relevant.

Course contents

The course aims at providing the cognitive tools to understand the legal system of individual and collective labour relationships, both in the private sector and in the "privatized" public sector, taking into account the role and influence of EU law on domestic law, as well as the progressive formation of labour law and the changing orientations in the case law.
After a historical-critical introduction - which will focus on the structural components of the subject (Italian Constitution, mandatory legislation, collective self-regulation, individual contract), on the development of sources (in particular, with regard to collective agreement and EU law), and on the hierarchy between them, and in which the numerous and significant innovations recently adopted by the legislator will be highlighted - the course will focus on the following parts, giving adequate importance to EU law in the study of individual institutions:

A) Trade union law and collective relationships

- Trade union freedom and trade union organization. Trade union representation in the company and trade union rights.

- Collective autonomy and structure of collective bargaining in public and private sector. Content, regulatory effectiveness and applicability of collective agreements.

- The relationship between law, collective agreement and individual contract and the relationships between collective agreements of different levels.

- The collective conflict and the protection of the unions. The right to strike and its limits. The strike in public services. The repression of anti-union conduct.

B) The contract and individual employment relationship

- Subordination and self-employed. Distinctive criteria between employees and workers. Types and subtypes.

- Self-employment. The work contract and the quasi-subordinate work (collaborations and hetero-organized work).

- Employment relationship. Model of prevalent relationship and the so-called special relationship.

- The so-called "special" employment relationship (domestic work - journalistic work - sports work - work in cooperatives, apprenticeships, etc.).

- Non - standard work. Contracts other than full-time and open-ended contracts (part-time work, fixed-term contract, intermittent work contract, etc.).

- The employer and the diversity of regulations deriving from the employers’ characteristics (for example, trend organizations, public administrations and special disciplines in the field of privatized public work, etc.).

- Firm's vicissitudes (the transfer of undertaking) and external work (prohibition of interposition, agency work, contracts, secondment and posting of workers). Business groups and network contracts.

- Establishment of the relationship and public intervention on the labour market (ordinary and special placement - compulsory recruitment - government of the labour market - the role of private entities in employment - youth and women work - professional training - de facto performance - probation clause).

- Work performance (tasks, qualifications, categories - intra-company mobility).

- The obligations of the employees (diligence, obedience and loyalty - working hours and rests).

- Employer’s power (directive, control and disciplinary).

- The employer's obligations: a) the safety obligation.

b) Remuneration (onerousness and correspondence - Article 36 of the Constitution and equal pay - notions and forms - structure of remuneration and structure of collective bargaining - compensation elements - severance pay and supplementary pensions).

- Termination of the employment relationship. Resignation. Individual dismissals (ordinary and extraordinary; subjectively and objectively justified - notice and indemnity). Collective dismissals. Protections against unfair dismissals (from Article 18 of the Labor Law to the Fornero Reform and the Jobs Act).

- Other events of the relationship and other cases of public intervention on the labour market (suspensions - reduction of hours and redundancy fund - early retirement - transfer of undertaking and rescue - unemployment compensation - mobility allowance).

- Guarantees of workers' rights (mandatory nature - renunciations and transactions - prescription and forfeiture - effectiveness in protecting labour credit).

For exam preparation, students are advised to consult a labour code and a national collective agreement in force in any sector, including the reformed public sector.
The student is required to keep up-to-date until the exam date on the new regulatory innovations that will be reported by the teacher during the course.

Readings/Bibliography

I) For the Labor Law course

For the preparation of the exam, it is recommended the latest edition of the texts indicated below; later, other texts may be reported or agreed upon also on the student's proposal. For students attending to the lessons, different study materials can be identified for exam preparation.

A) For trade union law and collective relationships:

M. Ballestrero, Diritto sindacale, Giappichelli, Torino

or

F. Carinci, R. De Luca Tamajo, P. Tosi, T. Treu, Diritto del lavoro. 1. Il diritto sindacale, Utet, Torino

B) For the contract and individual employment relationship:

F. Carinci, R. De Luca Tamajo, P. Tosi, T. Treu, Diritto del lavoro. 2. Il rapporto di lavoro subordinato, Utet, Torino

or

E. Ghera, A. Garilli, D. Garofalo, Diritto del lavoro, Giappichelli, Torino

or

O. Mazzotta, Manuale di diritto del lavoro, Cedam, Padova (only Part II on the employment contract)

C) For the European Union Law:

F. Carinci, A. Pizzoferrato (a cura di), Diritto del lavoro dell’Unione Europea, Torino, Giappichelli, limitatamente ai seguenti capitoli: capitolo IV.4 "Il distacco dei lavoratori" (pp. 167-198); capitolo V "Parità di trattamento e divieto di discriminazione (pp. 199-227); capitolo VI "I rapporti di lavoro speciali" (pp. 229-275); capitolo VIII "Il salario minimo europeo" (pp. 301-312); capitolo XV "Le relazioni collettive" (pp. 455-489).

II) For supplementary activities

For exam preparation we recommend the latest edition of the following book:

- for the integration of 3 credits: F. Carinci, A. Pizzoferrato (a cura di), Diritto del lavoro dell’Unione Europea, Torino, Giappichelli, limitatamente ai seguenti capitoli: capitolo IV.4 "Il distacco dei lavoratori" (pp. 167-198); capitolo V "Parità di trattamento e divieto di discriminazione (pp. 199-227); capitolo VI "I rapporti di lavoro speciali" (pp. 229-275); capitolo VIII "Il salario minimo europeo" (pp. 301-312); capitolo XV "Le relazioni collettive" (pp. 455-489).

- for the 6 CFU integrations: : F. Carinci, A. Pizzoferrato (a cura di), Diritto del lavoro dell’Unione Europea, Torino, Giappichelli;

- for additions to a different number of credits it is necessary to make arrangements with the teacher.

III) For the Italian-French curriculum:

The course aims at providing students with the regulatory framework of the subject on the basis of its sources (domestic and European Union law, collective agreements, and individual contract, as well as case law). The content consists of two parts.

A) Collective labour law

The first part of the course, whose classes the student may attend, concerns the principles of collective labour law. For exam preparation we recommend the latest edition of the following book:

M. Ballestrero, Diritto sindacale, Giappichelli, Torino

or

F. Carinci, R. De Luca Tamajo, P. Tosi, T. Treu, Diritto del lavoro. 1. Il diritto sindacale, Utet, Torino.

B) Employment relationship

The second part of the course will focus on some main issues concerning the employment contract and the employment relationship (Subordination and self-employment; duties of the parties; remuneration; employer’s powers; dismissal; agency work; transfer of undertaking and other outsourcing strategies of the firm). For exam preparation we recommend the latest edition of the following book, limited to the chapters specified as follows:

F. Carinci, R. De Luca Tamajo, P. Tosi, T. Treu, Diritto del lavoro. 2. Il rapporto di lavoro subordinato, Utet, Torino: chapter second (Subordination, pp. 46-97); chapter fourth, section B (Agency work, pp. 151-162); chapter fifth (Outsourcing, pp. 178-200); chapter seventh (Employees’ duties and working time, pp. 232-274); chapter eighth (Employers’ powers, pp. 275-349); chapter ninth (Retribution, pp. 350-385); chapter eleventh (Dismissal, pp. 419-525).

or

E. Ghera, A. Garilli, D. Garofalo, Diritto del lavoro, Giappichelli, Torino: chapter second (Subordination, pp. 47-90); chapter fourth (Employers’ powers, employees duties, working time, pp. 119-180); chapter fifth (Retribution, pp. 181-205); chapter seventh (Dismissal, pp. 242-306), chapter eighth (Transfer of undertaking, pp. 317-329); chapter eleventh (Agency work, contract of service, posting of workers, pp. 535-554); chapter twelfth (collective dismissal, pp. 605-624).

or

O. Mazzotta, Manuale di diritto del lavoro, Cedam, Padova (second part, employment relationship): chapter I, section I and II (Subordination, pp. 179-260); chapter III, section III (Employers’ powers and duties; mutual rights and obligations, pp. 365-486); chapter III, section (Dismissal, pp. 500-608); chapter II, section II (Outsourcing and firm’s fragmentation, pp. 268-291), section III (Agency work, pp. 292-307), and section IV (Firms vicissitudes, transfer of undertaking, pp. 308-316).

- Alternatively at the part B, concerning the employment contract and the employment relationship, the student can choose to focus on the EU labour law. For exam preparation, we recommend the latest edition of the book F. Carinci, A. Pizzoferrato (a cura di), Diritto del lavoro dell’Unione Europea, Torino, Giappichelli.

 

Teaching methods

The course is structured in classroom lectures in which the main issues of trade union law and labour law are analysed, with particular attention to the most recent legislative innovations and the dynamics of collective bargaining.

Some simulated processes are organized by the chair, with a decision entrusted to an labour court judge invited for the occasion. During the course, exercises are also organized, reserved for attending students, on individual aspects of the program in order to examine and discuss case law or new legislation. Collaborators in the chair of Labour Law will also participate.

Due to the situation linked to covid-19, the lessons of the first semester will be deliveredin a mixed mode: the students will have the possibility to follow the lectures remotely or face to face. The Professor will be present in the classroom.

Assessment methods

The final exam will be oral on arguments discussed during the lessons and indicated in the program above.

In the current situation, the oral exam will take place through a video interview on the Microsoft Teams platform. On each occasion, a virtual classroom will be created for the exam and, if necessary, one or more virtual classrooms for the subcommittees, where students will have the opportunity to take the interview. Students who are registered in the exam will receive a specific communication on the institutional email, indicating the link or links to connect to on the day of the exam. To take the oral exam It is necessary  to have a stable internet connection, a working webcam and microphone, as well as an identity document.

Starting from the end of the first semester, attending students are given the opportunity to take a partial exam during the winter session, limited to the part of the program carried out in the first semester (trade union law). Partial examination will be considered in the event of a positive outcome.

Valutation in the exam:

- Lack of knowledge of basic topics, necessary for understanding the subject, and inability to analyze them even with the support of the Professor→ insufficient.

- Preparation on basic topics addressed in the course and analytical skills that emerge with the help of the Professor, expressed in an overall correct language → 18-19.

- Preparation on a limited number of topics covered in the course and ability to autonomous analysis only on purely executive matters, expression in correct language → 20-24.

- Preparation on a large number of topics covered in the course, ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis, mastery of specific terminology → 25-29.

- Comprehensive preparation on the topics covered in the course, ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis and connection, full mastery of specific terminology and ability to argue and self-reflection → 30-30L.

THESIS

The assignment of the thesis will consider the interest in the subject. The subject and the title will be definitely assigned after the presentation and approval of a research program on a subject agreed between teacher and student.

Teaching tools

Students with disabilities and with specific learning disabilities (DSA) can communicate to the Professor their needs in order to agree upon the necessary compensatory tools.

Erasmus students can contact the Professor in order to identify the appropriate adaptations of the program in accordance to their learning agreements, in the event that the acquisition of a number of CFU is lower than 15.

Office hours

See the website of Carlo Zoli