⚖️ The Principle of Wage Irreducibility and the Revocation of the Superminimum: Clarifications from the Court of Cassation (Order No. 8150/2025)

The Italian Court of Cassation, with Order No. 8150 of March 27, 2025, has once again ruled on a fundamental issue in labor law: the principle of wage irreducibility under Article 2103 of the Italian Civil Code, analyzing the case concerning the revocation of a non-absorbable superminimum following the termination of collective agreements.

📝 The Case: Revocation of the Superminimum after Termination of Collective Agreements

The dispute arose from the revocation of an emolument paid as a non-absorbable superminimum, which had been provided for under two separate collective agreements subsequently terminated by the employer, a trade union organization.

Specifically:

• A first-level collective agreement was replaced in 1997 by the Trade Sector National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL Commercio) following the transfer of a business branch.
• To offset the resulting pay differences, the transferor and the employees entered into a safeguard agreement, later incorporated by the transferee through a supplementary company agreement, providing for the payment of the non-absorbable superminimum.
• Later, both the transferor and the transferee terminated their respective agreements and revoked the payment of the superminimum.

The employees sued to retain the right to continue receiving the superminimum, but both the Court and the Court of Appeal rejected their claims. They then appealed to the Court of Cassation.

📚 The Legal Principle: Less Favorable Collective Agreement and Wage Irreducibility

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal, reaffirming several well-established principles:

1. Collective Agreement Applicable after Business Transfer: In the event of a transfer, the collective agreement in force at the transferee applies to the transferred employees, even if it is less favorable than the previous one. The original agreement continues to apply only if the transferee does not apply any collective bargaining agreement (Cass. No. 37291/2021).
2. Directive 2001/23/EC: Article 3(3) requires the transferee to maintain the working conditions under the previous collective agreement only until the agreement’s expiry or replacement, not beyond.
3. Scattolon Case and Directive 77/187/EEC: The transfer of a business cannot cause a deterioration of employees’ pay solely due to the transfer, but subsequent contractual dynamics may affect working conditions.
4. Principle of Wage Irreducibility: Wage irreducibility protects only the individual contractual elements of the employment relationship. Pay components of collective origin may be lawfully amended or revoked by subsequent collective agreements, unless the superminimum had been individually agreed with the employee for specific professional skills, duties, or particular working conditions, in which case it becomes part of the individual contract.

🔎 Conclusion

With Order No. 8150/2025, the Court of Cassation confirms that the principle of wage irreducibility only protects individual elements of the salary and does not prevent changes or revocations of pay items stemming from collective agreements, even if unfavorable to the worker.

In the case of a business transfer, the transferee’s collective agreement prevails, and the previous conditions are only maintained for the duration of the earlier agreement’s validity.