Abstract

The author, after underlining the increasing importance of the supreme court's case-law in the interpretation of labour law, as a result of recent reforms of its jurisdiction, carries out an analysis of the guidelines developed by the Corte di Cassazione as regards the justification of the so-called economic layoffs, consolidated before the reform of art. 18, by Act n. 92/2012. The author asks the questions as to what extent such guidelines could be kept stable, given the dichotomy in sanctioning regimes of unjustified dismissals introduced by the reform, and the impact of that dichotomy on justification itself, and therefore how could develop the dialogue between the supreme court and the lower courts judging on merit.