The recent Sentence of the Cassation n. 19394/2014 is a very important intervention with which principles of a general nature have been crystallized which, certainly, in the event of a dispute, will be used to qualify the legal nature of the employment relationship of the scientific medical informant who, due to the peculiarity of the activity carried out, can be traced back to the "grey area" between autonomy and subordination.
By Cristina Spadaro – LEGAL SIGNS Further information
The figure of the pharmaceutical sales representative found the first regulatory reference in the Consolidated Text of Health Laws Royal Decree July 27, 1934, n. 1265 Gazz. Phew. 9 August 1934 no. 186.
Subsequently, the European Commission elaborated a series of Directives which concerned the homogenization of the provisions of the law on scientific information, operating in the individual countries making up the Community (in particular, we note the Directive no. 92/28 EEC, implemented in Italy with the Legislative Decree 30 December 1992 n. 541: Pubblicità dei medicinali per uso umano – Gazz. Uff. 11/01/1993 n. 7 -, che dall’articolo 9 in poi, ha delineato la figura professionale in esame).
Subsequently, various ministerial decrees were issued, among which the Legislative Decree 24 April 2006 n. 219 that atart. 122 entitled "requirements and activities of scientific representatives", reformulated the content of the activity of scientific representatives by establishing, among other things, the subjective requirements that allow the exercise of the profession of scientific representatives, i.e. the obligation for each pharmaceutical company to communicate to AIFA, by the month of January of each year, the list of scientific representatives employed during the previous year, with an indication of the educational qualification and the type of employment contract with the pharmaceutical company.
Therefore, during the visit to the doctor, the informant can deliver material of scientific information (scientific papers, medical journals, texts, illustrative material, free samples). The fundamental task assigned to the Pharmaceutical Representatives is to constantly update the doctors in the assigned work area on the scientific and therapeutic contents of the drugs entrusted, within the scope of the registered therapeutic indications.
La classe medica, dunque, soprattutto oggi che il bagaglio terapeutico si arricchisce quasi giornalmente di nuovi ritrovati e di continue messe a punto di specialità già note, può avere, proprio attraverso il colloquio con l’informatore scientifico, quell’aggiornamento che gli è indispensabile per svolgere correttamente la propria professione sotto il profilo terapeutico.
Tale figura professionale pone ad oggetto della prestazione un’attività di informazione che produce i propri effetti sul mercato e quindi sulla stipula di contratti di vendita. Pur non essendo disciplinata dal codice civile, tale figura viene spesso accostata, impropriamente, alla figura dell’agente di commercio, dalla quale differisce in quanto vi manca l’attività di promozione contrattuale in senso proprio, limitandosi l’informatore a facilitare l’uso dei prodotti farmaceutici e non proponendo la stipula di alcun contratto dal momento che lo stesso non interagisce con i potenziali acquirenti, bensì con soggetti i quali potranno consigliare o prescrivere i farmaci ai propri assistiti.
La figura giuridica dell’informatore non è, quindi quella dell’agente di commercio ma rientra all’interno delle professioni intellettuali non protette, non esistendo un relativo albo professionale.
For some time both the jurisprudence of merit and of legitimacy have repeatedly pronounced on the legal nature of the employment relationship of the scientific informant in the sense of framing it both in the scheme of self-employment and in that of subordinate work depending on the concrete methods of carrying out the activity carried out.
In particular, the Supreme Court, in relation to this question, has had the opportunity to clarify the following: "L’attività del propagandista di medicinali può svolgersi sia nell’ambito del rapporto di lavoro autonomo sia in quello del rapporto di lavoro subordinato, a seconda che la prestazione dell’attività, sostanzialmente identica in entrambi i casi, si caratterizzi per le modalità del suo svolgimento, avendo le espressioni adoperate dalle parti per definire il loro rapporto valore solo indicativo. Dall’anzidetta attività (svolta in via autonoma e subordinata) che consiste nel persuadere la potenziale clientela dell’opportunità dell’acquisto, informandola del prodotto e delle sue caratteristiche, ma senza promuovere (se non in via del tutto marginale) la conclusione di contratti differisce, l’attività dell’agente il quale, nell’ambito di una obbligazione non di mezzi ma di risultato, deve altresì pervenire alla promozione della conclusione di contratti, essendo a questi direttamente connesso e commisurato il proprio compenso” (Civil Court of Cassation, Labor Section, 10.23.2001, n. 13027 in Rass. Dir. Farm., 2002, 23; in this sense also expressed: Court of Cassation 07.19.2004 n. 13389 in dirittofarmaceutico.net and Cassation 1.06.2004 n. 10507 in Orient. Giur. lav. 2004, 326; App. Court of Rome, Labor Section, 03.27.2006; Naples Court, Labor Section, 01.31.2006).
Recently the Supreme Court of Cassation, with sentence n. 19394/2014 went beyond the legal qualification adopted at the time of signing the individual contract, establishing that the activity of the scientific medical rep, even if endowed with a certain autonomy, must be seen in the context of the subordinate employment relationship rather than in that of an agency.
In the judgment in question, aspects of the relationship that had allowed the correct classification in the context of subordination were assessed and valued. In the case in question, the agent had deemed it necessary to appeal to the Labor Court in order to obtain recognition of the subordinate nature of the activity carried out on behalf of a pharmaceutical company.
The Court of Pisa, having recognized the existence of the subordination bond, had ordered the company to pay compensation for the damage suffered by the worker with the consequent burden of reinstatement.
Subsequently, the Florence Court of Appeal had rejected the company's appeal, specifying that the preliminary investigation carried out had confirmed the exclusion of the agency nature of the inter partes employment relationship
On the basis of the aforementioned considerations, the stoats consequently rejected the appeal brought by a well-known pharmaceutical company, confirming the sentence rendered by the Court of Appeal of Florence.
This is a very important intervention with which principles of a general nature have been crystallized which, certainly, in the event of a dispute, will be used to qualify the legal nature of the employment relationship of the scientific medical informant who, due to the peculiarity of the activity carried out, can be traced back to the "grey area" between autonomy and subordination.
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