CASE LAW | Italian Supreme Court, Order No. 25687 of 22 September 2026
An employee was dismissed after testifying that the employer prevented workers from reporting machinery problems in order to conceal safety issues. The lower courts declared the dismissal retaliatory without examining whether the allegation was true.
The Supreme Court overturned that approach. Giving evidence is a legal duty, and an employee cannot be disciplined merely for making statements unfavourable to the employer. However, a statement that is knowingly or negligently false may have disciplinary relevance if its content, context and seriousness undermine the relationship of trust.
The Court did not hold that the dismissal was necessarily lawful. It sent the case back to determine whether the evidence was false, whether the conduct justified dismissal and whether retaliation was the employer’s sole determining motive.
Employer-side relevance: an employer should never react automatically to adverse testimony. Before commencing disciplinary proceedings, it must establish a reasonable factual basis for alleging falsity and assess proportionality separately.