Italy: focus on the case-law over lay offs for personal use of the cell phone lent by the company

From the North to the South, Italian courts pronounced rulings on litigations about dismissals motivated by the abuse of the company's cell phone. The last in date is a ruling by the Court of Cassation which confirmed the legitimacy to dismiss an employee whose son used the cell phone to send thousands of personal text messages. Aside from the problem of misuse of a good provided by the employer, there are also motives linked to the non-respect of contractual duties, notably in terms of working time. (Ref. 070738)
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The condemned behaviour was ruled serious enough to definitely break the entrepreneur’s trust vis-à-vis his employee, which represents a legitimate cause for dismissal. Even if the employee (who had been working for the company for over thirty years) stood up for himself pointing that his son had used the cell phone and not him – argument against which the company filed a civil suit – the Court of Cassation (ruling No. 15334, May 9, 2007, presented on July 9, 2007) confirmed the decision delive

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