Italian Labour Law e-Journal

Book Review: The power of the collective: a remarkable book on European collective labour law, Edited by Beryl ter Haar and Kun Attila (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021)

Péter Sipka — 2022-12-20

Addressing psychosocial risks in Estonian SMEs

Krystyna Bakhtina — 2022-12-19

Although Estonian SMEs dominate the economy, they are still experiencing challenges when it comes to addressing psychosocial risks, such as the lack of the required knowledge of how such challenges can be tackled and lacking the resources to do that. The present paper aims to address the problem of psychosocial risks experienced by SMEs in Estonia. The article aims to look at the problem from a legal perspective by examining hard and soft law measures that are required for solving this problem. The paper proposes to apply a multifaceted approach to tackle the issue. It is suggested to have more elaborated laws, strengthen enforcement, and focus on the development of collective bargaining. Besides the legal tools, it is also necessary to continue working on awareness-raising and create initiatives to promote a healthy working environment.

Occupational welfare in Europe: models compared

Anna Maria Battisti — 2022-12-19

This paper analyses the increasing importance of occupational welfare in some European countries, considering the characteristic welfare model and the public policies adopted to promote it. Following the needs arising from the Covid 19 pandemic, attention is focused on three work-related areas: Health care, work-life balance, and training, all of which are closely linked to the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals. The different roles of the various social partners will also be analysed in terms of the need to negotiate and align the professional well-being of the future with an ecosystem that puts the individual, the company, and the territory at the centre.

Employment crises, digital transition and territorial context: the case of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF)

Leonardo Pasqui — 2022-12-19

The contribution aims to investigate the different relationships between territory, digitalisation and work.Within the European Union, there are significant territorial inequalities aggravated by globalisation-related dynamics and the digital transition. Both processes, in fact, entail a territorial polarisation of economic development but also of technological skills, producing deep gaps within the member states.

In this sense, the analysis of an instrument such as the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund aims to shed light on the importance of keeping investing in reskilling and upskilling workers and the local labour context together, in order to understand how to reduce economic and knowledge inequalities.

Employment Contracts in the Australian High Court

Joellen Riley Munton — 2022-12-19

The contribution explains the approach taken by the Australian High Court in recent years to construing and interpreting employment contracts. It focuses on the Australian court’s rejection of principles accepted by the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, and the court’s assertion of the primacy of the parties’ own written contract in determining whether a work contract is one of employment, and what terms will govern that relationship. It argues that a statutory solution is necessary to ensure that protective labour statutes continue to cover those workers who are the proper objects of those laws.

The role of trade unions in managing corporate crises in air transport: from Alitalia to ITA Airways

Eufrasia Sena — 2022-12-19

The contribution analyzes the role of trade unions in the Alitalia crisis. In fact, they are not exempt from responsibility as they often preferred the protection of corporate interests to the promotion of real development and modernization processes of the company. Nowadays, after the return of Alitalia (now Ita Airways) to the State and the probable sale to a private partner, a new phase has opened for the company, in which trade unions can (and must) be protagonists.

Editorial

Edoardo Ales — 2022-12-19

EU Digital Covid Certificate: from a ‘gentle push’ for vaccination to a condition to work? Implications and legacy in the field of employment relationship

Matteo Avogaro — 2023-03-22

The contribution examines the main implications, for employment relationships, of French and Italian national versions of the EU Digital Covid Certificate, utilized as wide-range measures to foster vaccination. First, the Author provides an overview of related strategies adopted in the two countries from mid-2021, and limiting access to workplaces. Furthermore, through a comparative legal analysis aimed to discuss if, in the labour context, French and Italian certificates can be framed as statutory prerequisites to carry out a job, as workplace safety measures, or as a hybrid tertium genus, he attempts to let emerge similarities and differences between the two national strategies. Finally, the last part of the contribution focuses on Italy. It examines more in detail the possible legacy of such exceptional measures to contrast the pandemic, emphasizing the risk of a heterogenesis of purposes.

Remote work regulation during and after the pandemic in Greece and Germany: comparative legal frameworks and challenges for the future of work

Effrosyni Bakirtzi — 2022-12-19

The contribution focuses on telework and remote work legislative transformations during the corona pandemic based on the experiences of two countries, Greece and Germany. Greece has introduced in 2021 a reform of teleworking regime both in the private and public sectors. Germany has only addressed the increased teleworking needs ad hoc with less profound changes in the existing teleworking regime. The teleworking/remote working national legal frameworks of these two countries are compared and the transitions to a flexible virtual workplace are contextualized. The paper demonstrates how these transitions addressed only partially the labour and social fundamental rights of employees.

Mandatory Vaccination against COVID-19 in the Employment Relationship

Merle Erikson — 2022-12-19

In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the paper analyzes mandatory vaccination in employment relationships in European countries. The paper focuses on three subtopics: who is competent to establish the mandatory vaccination requirement, in which positions mandatory vaccination is justified, and what the employer can do if the employee refuses the mandatory vaccination. The paper concludes that since the obligation to vaccinate significantly infringes on the employee’s fundamental rights, such a requirement can preferably be imposed by the state, and it must always be purposeful, appropriate, and proportionate. Vaccination can be mandatory in areas of activity determined by the state and workplaces where the employee is constantly and unavoidably in close contact with other persons. Since COVID-19 is a new and changing disease, and vaccination does not prevent infection, refusal of vaccination cannot be the basis for terminating an employee’s employment contract.

Covid-19 vaccination and employment relationships in Italy. The vaccination obligation pursuant to Law Decree April 1st, 2021, no. 44 and the general employer’s duty to ensure safety at work

Riccardo Maraga — 2022-12-19

The paper aims at offering, in the form of a theoretical analysis, an overview regarding the approach adopted by Italian law and Italian case law with reference to the relationship between vaccination against Covid-19 and employment relationship. The analysis starts from the general obligation of the employer to protect employees' health and safety pursuant to article 2087 of the Italian Civil Code, that makes mandatory for the employer to adopt any measure necessary to protect the health and safety of the employee in the workplace. From this point of view the paper offers an overview of the debate that animated the labour law community immediately after the start of the pandemic, when it emerged the Covid-19 vaccination can be considered a protection measure against the risk of Covid-19 infection.

The paper then analysis the specific provisions adopted on this matter by Italian legal system, namely that contained in Law Decree 1^st April 2021, no. 44 offering an overview on the contents of the abovementioned law and on the decisions of the judges, after a theoretical and systematic classification of the matter.

COVID-19 and Gender Gap in Italy and Japan: Can “Pink Quotas” be the Solution?

Francesca Marinelli — 2022-12-19

Despite the significant improvements in terms of gender equality in recent years, numerous gaps – especially, the one related to the labour market – still persist all over the world also due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research intends to discuss whether the controversial gender quota systems – introduced in many countries as a form of positive action to foster a more diverse work environment – could face the crisis in order to avoid the loss of decades’ worth of achievements on equality. We chose to compare Italy – which implemented the quote rosa system in 2011 with mixed results – and Japan – which is reviewing its plan to promote women’s development after failing to achieve its objective of having at least 30% of women in leadership positions by 2020 – because both countries were still far from reaching their goals about gender equality and, therefore, in a vulnerable position when the pandemic hit.

The Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence as Workplace Supervisors: Explaining and Understanding the New Surveillance to Employees Beyond Art. 8 ECHR

Michele Molè — 2022-12-19

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are overexposing the employee under the employer scrutiny. Through a labour oriented approach to privacy and data protection, this contribution aims to detect principles of explainability and understanding of the new workplace surveillance under the ECHR. In fact, looking at the ECtHR’s jurisprudence it is possible to theorise that the Court’s margin of appreciation may be stricter in safeguarding employees’ privacy and essential labour rights when the surveillance measure interferes with individual and collective autonomy of the workforce.

Labour law in Portugal during the pandemic: main measures and developments

Ana Teresa Ribeiro — 2022-12-19

Like in many other countries, the COVID-19 pandemic provoked the implementation of several measures in the Portuguese labour regime in order to adjust this new reality and its aftermath. This Article provides an overview of such actions, namely the suspension of employment contracts, the admissibility of absences from work due to COVID-related reasons, the mandatory telework, the new powers of the Portuguese Labour Authority, and the prohibition of dismissals. The impact of the pandemic on the overall Portuguese labour market is also addressed, as well as the most recent changes prompted by the pandemic experience. Therefore, we will provide a panoramic view of the new regime of telework as well as of the newly proclaimed duty of the employer to abstain from contacting the employees outside of the working period.