The Supreme Court offers the right to appeals against the new rules
Workers absent due to illness have the right to leave their homes to be examined by their trusted doctor. This right also applies if the removal from one's home is due to the fact that the interested party has to undergo health checks. This is the principle affirmed by the labor section of the Supreme Court of Cassation, with a sentence filed on 21 July last (20080). According to the judges of legitimacy: "To justify the violation of the obligation to be available at certain times, the absolute non-deferability of the health service to be provided is not required, but a serious and well-founded reason justifying the removal from home is sufficient". The fact The case concerned a worker who, during the use of sick leave, had gone to a medical-diagnostic center to carry out an electrocardiogram and to be visited by a cardiologist. The clinical examination and the cardiological visit had been carried out during the so-called availability slots. That is to say, during the time slots in which the employment contract provides that the worker cannot leave home because, during those times, the tax doctor is entitled to submit the worker absent due to illness to a check-up. The Court of Cassation, however, must immediately say that the case did not concern a school worker. But the question is of a general nature. All the more so since the interpretation of the Supreme Court, by its nature, while not binding, is nonetheless highly authoritative. And therefore, in fact (if not in law) it contributes to orienting the jurisprudence on the merits in a decisive way. And this cannot fail to be taken into due account by the administration when applying the relative rules. The contract is no longer valid, especially since the ruling of the legitimacy judges intervenes on a strictly topical matter. The regulation of sick leave, in fact, has recently been removed by the legislator from the competence of the contractual table as a result of article 71 of the decree law 112/2008 currently being converted. This means that, while previously the matter was governed by the employment contract, now the relevant provisions are to be found directly in the law. And therefore the administration has the power to interpret them with simple circulars, which take on normative value for the peripheral administrations that must apply them. And in this regard, the public function has already intervened with a provision: circular 7 of 17 July last. Ten hours locked up at home As for the availability slots, they have been extended from four to ten hours a day. In other words, while previously the worker had to be at home from 10 to 12 and from 17 to 19, now, with the new regulations, he would have to shut himself up at home from 8 in the morning to 13 and from 14 to 20. The same administration, however, requires the worker to justify his absence at least with a medical certificate. This obligation conflicts with the obligation to stay at home for 11 hours a day during illness. In fact, the legislator has not introduced exceptions to staying at home to allow the person concerned to fulfill the obligation to obtain the health documentation necessary to justify the absence. And therefore, if the general practitioner deems home visits inappropriate, the only way to undergo the visit necessary for the preparation of the certificate justifying the absence is to go personally to the medical clinic. All with the risk of incurring liability, should the sun check arrive during your absence
