Italy: Milan Appeals Court argues that working on public holidays is not obligatory, even in the tourist sector

On 05 December, in an appeal hearing, the Milanese Tribunal confirmed an initial court decision from July 2018 that had ruled in favor of two female workers for the Autogrill group, who had received an order to go to work on 15 August 2017 but had not turned up, and had been subsequently penalized by the employer. Thus announced by the Milan branch of Filcams Cgil, which had supported the workers during the process. The first instance Milan tribunal recognized the ‘(workers’) right to absent themselves from work on public holidays’, and held that the ability for a company to operate during public holidays did not include the automatic transformation of public holidays into working days by way of the unilateral decision of the employer. As a result the employees’ refusal to work on 15 August 2017 could not be considered as unjustified absenteeism. Filcams considers that the Appeal Court’s decision “should enable us to negotiate work organization with tourism businesses,” so as to better achieve a work-life balance for the sector’s employees, especially by staff rotation schedules for public holidays, and to “secure better economic conditions that can sufficiently compensate for the sacrifice by those working on public holidays.”