The dismissal for justified objective reason of the employee whose duties are partially performed by AI tools is legitimate
With ruling no. 9135 of November 19, 2025, the Court of Rome deemed the dismissal of a worker for justified objective reason legitimate, as her duties were partially assigned to artificial intelligence tools following a company reorganization.
The Roman judges found the reasons for the dismissal for justified objective reason put forward by the employer to be substantiated, demonstrating in court the existence of an economic crisis and the consequent need to undertake a company reorganization aimed at improving service efficiency and cost containment.
This led to the elimination of the worker’s position and the absorption of her duties by the team leader, who utilized partial support from artificial intelligence.
The Court of Rome confirmed the legitimacy of the employer’s conduct, acknowledging the validity of the economic reasons underlying the dismissal and the consequent elimination of the role, as well as the impossibility of redeploying the employee to other duties, even at a lower level.
The employer can utilize investigative agencies to ascertain fraudulent conduct by their employees
Following repeated complaints from clients, a consortium subjected its employees to checks, both monitoring internally the actual fulfillment of work performance and entrusting an investigative agency with the investigation into any potentially criminal or fraudulent behavior. The Supreme Court, with ruling no. 30821 on November 24, 2025, confirmed the legitimacy of the dismissal for just cause imposed on one of the consortium’s employees who, as indicated by investigative checks, had repeatedly stopped the service vehicle during his duty shift and remained in it, contradicting the report drafted by the same worker, which indicated he was operational in other locations.
The Supreme Court, considering that in the case at hand, the monitoring of the employee went beyond mere verification of work performance, clarified that it is legitimate for the employer to rely on investigative agencies when the checks do not concern compliance with work performance obligations but focus on employee behaviors that may have criminal relevance or harm the company’s image.
Managers are also entitled to compensation for unused vacation days
A manager who approached the judicial authority to challenge his dismissal requested, among other things, compensation for unused vacation days.
The Court of Cassation, with order No. 32689 of December 15, 2025, established that vacation represents both a fundamental and inalienable right of the employee, including those holding managerial positions, and an obligation imposed on the employer.
Therefore, in order to be considered exempt from the payment of compensation for unused vacation, the employer must demonstrate that they invited the employee to take vacation and informed them that if they did not do so, those vacation days would be lost at the end of the reference period.
The judges of legitimacy, overriding a previous position that excluded the payment of any compensation for managers due to their freedom to manage vacation time without employer interference, clarified that fundamental principles regarding vacation must necessarily apply to workers in managerial roles as well. According to the Court of Cassation, even in the case of an employee with managerial status, the employer must demonstrate that they have fulfilled the informational duties regarding vacation utilization that are imposed on them.
The 2026 Budget Law has been published
Law No. 199/2025 (the so-called 2026 Budget Law) has come into force on January 1, 2026. There are several new developments in the field of labor law, primarily focused on facilitating work-life balance.
In particular, starting from January 1, 2026, priority has been established for working parents with at least three cohabiting children, until the youngest child reaches 10 years of age or without age limits in the case of children with disabilities, in the conversion of full-time employment contracts to part-time, whether horizontal or vertical, or in the adjustment of working hours, provided that the reduction is at least 40% of the working hours.
Additionally, the right of the working parent to take parental leave has been extended to the child’s 14th year of age, as well as leave for the illness of the child, which has been raised to 10 working days per year.
Finally, in the case of fixed-term employment contracts to replace workers on maternity leave, there is the possibility to extend the fixed-term contract for a further period of support for the replaced worker until the child turns one year old.
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