Unlawful Dismissal in Italy: How to Challenge a Licenziamento and Protect Your Rights

Types of dismissal under Italian law

Italian labour law does not allow an employer to dismiss an employee arbitrarily or without cause. Every licenziamento must rest on a ground the law recognises as valid, and each ground triggers its own procedure. Knowing which category your dismissal falls into is the first step toward knowing whether it can be challenged.

The law distinguishes three main grounds for disciplinary and economic dismissal.

• Dismissal for serious misconduct (licenziamento per giusta causa) — the most severe ground: the employee has done something so serious that continuing the employment relationship, even for a notice period, becomes impossible. It applies with no notice.
• Dismissal for subjective justified reason (licenziamento per giustificato motivo soggettivo) — a material breach of the employee's duties that does not reach the level of "serious misconduct" but justifies dismissal with notice.
• Dismissal for objective justified reason (licenziamento per giustificato motivo oggettivo) — reasons unrelated to conduct: reorganisation, elimination of a position, or the employer's economic difficulties. Individual redundancy also falls under this ground.

When an employer reduces staff simultaneously across several employees, a separate procedure applies — licenziamento collettivo, collective dismissal. It requires written notice to the trade unions, a consultation period, and selection criteria for who is let go: without this procedure, the dismissal of each individual employee can be challenged just as an individual dismissal can.

Dismissals that are void regardless of the reason

Separately from the list above, the law identifies a group of dismissals that are void (nulli) regardless of whatever reason the employer names and however convincing it sounds on paper. If a dismissal falls into one of these categories, the employee has the right to have it declared void and to be reinstated.

• Discriminatory dismissal — if the real reason is sex, age, nationality, religion, political opinion, health status, or another discriminatory trait, the dismissal is void even if a different ground was officially stated.
• Dismissal during pregnancy and the protected period — pregnant employees and parents in the first months after a child's birth or adoption are protected from dismissal, except for a narrow list of grounds unrelated to the pregnancy or parenthood itself.
• Dismissal on account of marriage — a dismissal connected to an employee's marriage is void by law.

Here the consequence is stronger than for an ordinary unlawful dismissal: the court does not merely award compensation, but declares the employment relationship uninterrupted, with the right to reinstatement and to wages for the entire period the employee was kept away from work.

The procedure the employer must follow

Even when the ground for dismissal is genuine, the employer must go through the procedure the law sets out. A breach of this procedure by itself — regardless of whether the employee actually did something wrong — can make the dismissal unlawful.

For a disciplinary dismissal (serious misconduct or a subjective reason), the procedure has these steps.

• Contestazione disciplinare — a written notice in which the employer specifically describes what exactly the employee is accused of: date, place, substance of the breach. General wording without details does not meet the law's requirements.
• The employee's right to explain — after receiving the contestazione, the employee may submit written explanations or request a personal meeting, if needed with a trade union representative present.
• Observing the time between steps — between service of the contestazione and the decision to dismiss, and between the breach and the contestazione itself, enough time must pass to prepare a response, but not so much that the decision looks belated and disproportionate.

For a dismissal on objective grounds tied to eliminating a position or reorganisation, the procedure is different: in the cases the law defines, the employer must first approach the Ispettorato Nazionale del Lavoro to attempt conciliation before the dismissal itself — only after this stage can it finalise the termination.

Deadlines: when to react, and why it decides everything

This is the section where a mistake costs the most. The law sets two consecutive deadlines: a short deadline to challenge the dismissal itself in writing, and a second, longer deadline to file a claim in court. Both run from the day the dismissal was communicated to the employee in writing.

The deadline for the written challenge is short. We deliberately do not state a number of days here: it is precisely fixed by law, but the count is always tied to a specific notification date, and relying on a figure heard from acquaintances or found in an outdated article is dangerous. If you have received a licenziamento, what matters most is not an immediate emotional reaction, but having a lawyer verify the exact starting date and the exact time remaining within the first days after receiving the paperwork.

Missing the first deadline closes the case for good, no matter how obviously unlawful the dismissal was. The court will not examine whether the employer was right on the merits: it will dismiss the claim on the sole fact of the missed deadline.

After a timely written challenge, a second deadline begins — for filing the claim itself with the tribunale, in its labour section. It is longer than the first, but it too is limited, and it too runs from the written challenge, not from when the employee "finally decided" to sue.

In parallel, remember the practical side: the dismissal itself does not immediately strip the right to stay in Italy, but it changes the basis on which a permesso di soggiorno tied to employment rests. The time available to find a new employer or another lawful basis to stay is limited and depends on the type of permit — address this in parallel with challenging the dismissal, not afterward; we wrote in more detail about this in a separate article on renewing a permesso di soggiorno.

Challenging the dismissal: conciliation and court

After the written challenge to the dismissal, the case moves along one of two paths: pre-trial conciliation or court proceedings.

Attempting conciliation

In some cases, depending on the ground for dismissal and company size, the law provides for a mandatory or voluntary tentativo di conciliazione — a meeting between the parties, often with a trade union present or held at the Ispettorato Nazionale del Lavoro, where compensation can be agreed without going to court. Such agreements are often faster and more predictable than litigation, but sign one only after a lawyer has assessed the real strength of the case: the sum agreed fixes the outcome for good.

Court proceedings

If conciliation fails, the case is heard by a judge of the labour section of the tribunale, under a special procedure faster than an ordinary civil case. The employer must prove the ground for dismissal was genuine and the procedure was followed; the burden of proof lies with the employer, not the employee.

A labour court dispute is exactly the situation where Dorosh & Partners works as a lawyer-plus-advocate team. The client tells us what happened in plain language — when the paperwork was handed over, what the manager said, which documents were signed. The lawyer translates this into the legal categories of the case: which ground for dismissal actually applies, what deadlines and evidence are needed — and directs the advocate who represents the case in court according to this plan, monitoring proceedings at every stage rather than handing the case off. The client does not need to find common ground with the court representative alone: the lawyer takes that work on. We described a similar approach in our article on court cases in Italy and the roles of lawyer and advocate.

What the court can award: reinstatement or compensation

The consequence of a dismissal being found unlawful depends on the ground for dismissal, when the employee was hired, and company size — which is exactly why there is no universal answer to "how much will I get," and any article naming a specific sum or a fixed number of months' salary in advance is misleading.

• Reinstatement (reintegra) — applies primarily to void dismissals (discriminatory, during pregnancy, on account of marriage) and, in some cases, to disciplinary dismissals without genuine misconduct. The employee returns to the position, and compensation is due for the period away from work.
• Monetary compensation without reinstatement — in other cases, where the dismissal is unlawful but reinstatement does not apply, the court awards compensation. Its amount depends on the regime the employee falls under — the older one tied to the Statuto dei Lavoratori, or the newer one from the later labour reform (contratto a tutele crescenti) — and on the case's specific circumstances, not a fixed table.

Separately, an employee often has unpaid amounts owed: the last salary, compensation for unused leave, severance pay (TFR). These claims can and should be raised alongside challenging the dismissal, not left "for later" — for this we have a separate checklist on recovering amounts owed by an employer, which helps gather the documents before the first meeting with a lawyer.

How Dorosh & Partners helps

A dismissal rarely arrives at a convenient moment, and it almost always comes with paperwork that must be understood and answered within days. A mistake here does not cost money in the future — it costs the right to sue itself: a missed deadline, a "settlement" signed without review, a dismissal ground wrongly stated in the claim — each closes a case that could otherwise have been won.

We start with what every case should start with: we review the dismissal paperwork on the day you contact us — when and how the notice was served, what ground was stated, whether the contestazione procedure was followed, and whether there are signs of discrimination, pregnancy, or another void ground. This determines how much time is actually left for the written challenge, and we start preparing the document immediately.

Next, we prepare the written challenge itself — in the form the law requires. In parallel, we gather evidence: correspondence, colleagues' statements, payslips, documents on amounts paid and unpaid — everything needed at the conciliation stage or in court.

If the case goes to the tribunale, the client works with a lawyer who knows the details of the case and speaks with the client in plain language, while the lawyer directs and supervises the advocate who represents the case in court. This spares the client from navigating another country's court system alone at an already difficult moment, and ensures no procedural deadline inside an open case is missed through misunderstanding.

Separately, we handle the practical side that worries almost every client as much as the case itself: what the dismissal means for the right to stay. We check what basis your permesso di soggiorno rests on and how much time you have to find a new employer or another lawful basis to stay, and we prepare the documents for the immigration side of the case in parallel — this is where our migration services section helps, from renewing permits to changing their basis.

We also pursue the amounts the employer failed to pay: the last salary, unused leave, severance pay — these claims can often be resolved faster than the case about the dismissal itself, giving the client financial footing while the main proceedings continue.

If you have just received dismissal paperwork and are not yet sure whether it is lawful, do not wait: book a consultation, bring every document you have — and we will tell you honestly how much time is left and which steps make sense in your case.

Frequently asked questions

Can I challenge a dismissal if I signed the document confirming I received it?

Yes. A signature on the dismissal notice only confirms receipt of the document and fixes the date from which the challenge deadline is counted. It does not mean you agreed with the dismissal and does not remove your right to challenge it.

What if the employer did not explain the reason for the dismissal at all?

The absence of a written explanation is, by itself, already grounds for a challenge, regardless of what actually happened. The law requires the reason to be stated in writing and specifically.

Does an unlawful dismissal affect the residence permit immediately?

The dismissal itself does not immediately cancel the permesso di soggiorno, but it changes the basis it rests on, and the time available to find new work or another solution is limited and depends on the type of permit — check this in parallel with challenging the dismissal.

Should I accept the sum the employer offers right away?

Do not sign any agreement before a lawyer has seen it. An agreed sum often closes off further challenge, even when the dismissal is clearly unlawful.

How much time is there to challenge a dismissal?

The deadline is short and runs from the day the dismissal was communicated in writing; its exact length is set by law, but it depends on the date the paperwork was served. Missing it closes the case for good, so the exact date must be checked with a lawyer immediately after receiving the documents, not put off for later.

Dismissal in Italy is rarely simple, but it has a concrete answer: whether the procedure was followed, whether the challenge was filed on time, what compensation or reinstatement can realistically be expected. The sooner a lawyer gives that answer, the more options remain for the employee.

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