Companies, Audiovisual systems, Protection of assets unrelated to the employment relationship, Civil Cassation, Section IV, Judgment n. 25732 of 09/22/2021

Protection of assets unrelated to the employment relationship or to avoid illegal behavior

Art. 4 of the l. n. 300 of 1970

With reference to art. 4 of the l. n. 300 of 1970 – as amended by articles 23, paragraph 1, of the legislative decree n. 151 of 2015, and 5, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree no. 185 of 2016 – the Labor Section stated that controls, including technological controls, put in place by the employer aimed at protecting assets unrelated to the employment relationship or at avoiding unlawful conduct are allowed, in the presence of a well-founded suspicion about the commission of a illegal, provided that a correct balance is ensured between the protection needs of corporate interests and assets, related to the freedom of economic initiative, with respect to the essential protection of the dignity and privacy of the worker, provided that the control concerns data acquired after the onset of the suspected.

As the aforementioned conditions are not met, the verification of the usability for disciplinary purposes of the data collected by the employer will be conducted in accordance with art. 4 l. n. 300 of 1970, in particular of its paragraphs 2 and 3.

Source Supreme Court of Cassation