Payroll deduction not allowed before disciplinary dispute

A warehouse worker damaged the forklift he was using and the company sanctioned him with a written reprimand and withheld from his paycheck the amount of EUR 2,850 by way of damage compensation, in two instalments, one of EUR 1,352 and the second of EUR 1,498.

The Court of Bergamo held that the employer's actions were correct, while the Court of Appeal of Brescia held that the first deduction was unlawful because it was made before communicating the disciplinary sanction, with the obligation to return the relative amount (EUR 1,352) to the employee.

The company appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation, pointing out that the applicable collective bargaining agreement allows the employer to withhold sums in the pay envelope up to EUR 3,500 as compensation for a loss caused by the employee, regardless of gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

However, the Supreme Court (ordinance 26607/2025) noted that the Court of Appeal did not question the employee's liability for the damage caused, nor the company's possibility of withholding amounts from the payroll. The decisive point is whether the employer complied with the provisions of the collective agreement. The latter, noted the Court of Appeal, establishes that the action for compensation for the damage caused by the employee must be preceded by the disciplinary sanction as a guarantee for the employee.

In the specific case, the employer proceeded to make the first compensation in the pay envelope before communicating the sanction and therefore this action is not admissible. In its appeal to the Court of Cassation, the company did not explain where the Court of Merit had erred in its reading of the Ccnl and consequently the judges of legitimacy rejected the appeal and upheld the decision.