Deskilling is an act that consists in assigning a skilled worker to a task that is lower than his/her position, or, assigning the worker to no position. This act is generally forbidden by Italian juridical system because it is a violation of worker’s right in having a task consistent with his professionalism.

The Legislative Decree 81/2015 (JobsAct) has replaced the article 2103 Civil Code on deskilling: the new regulation provides that in case of company reorganization. The employer has the one-sided power of changing the tasks of the worker in a detrimental way, too. However, the economical treatment of the worker can’t be changed: the modification is possible in the limits of the immediately lower position, as provided by CBA, and among the same legal cathegory (art.2095 Civil Code).

The judgement n° 23945 of Supreme Civil Court, Corte di Cassazione, in November 11th 2015, is on the same wavelenght of the recent JobsAct Reform. In the case in point, the loss of a specific power for the worker caused by company reorganization is not a juridical requirement prooving a deskilling act.

In the written explanation of the ruling, the Court states that new production or management needs may legitimately determine modifications in tasks and accountability, most of all for higher professional profiles. These modifications, although in a detrimental way, do not establish a right violation because it is all in employer’s power of managing and organizing the business.

In the case in point the worker’s decisional and signature power were taken away: not for distrust reasons but the task modification was necessary because of the centralization of all decisional powers after the merge with a bigger company and the closure of smaller branches.