Prospettive sistematiche per i licenziamenti collettivi dopo la legge 92/2012

The essay, the second part of which will be published in the next issues of the review, deals with the impact of law n. 92/2012 (so called Fornero law) on the regulation of collective dismissals. The author examines in the first place the historical evolution of the regulation, outlining amongst the most critical points the long lasting dualism with the individual dismissal on objective ground, which was originated by the obscure formulation of sect. 11 of law n. 604/1966. The legislative regulation of collective dismissals, eventually realised by law n. 223/1991, did not solve the problem: on the contrary, the separation has been consolidated, though along other lines, mainly because the prevailing jurisprudence denies the judges the power to control the economic rationale of collective dismissals. In author’s opinion, the Fornero law, though intervening in an quite awkward way, ended up involuntarily strengthening the prevailing position of scholars, who assimilate the “objective ground” of individual dismissals and “the reduction or transformation of activity or work” of collective dismissals: the thesis that upholds a unitary reconstruction of small and big dismissals for economic reasons appears to be particularly opportune also from the policy point of view, thanks to the fruitful exegetic synergies which it is able to bring about.