Is dismissal via WhatsApp legitimate? What the law provides (pianetacellulare.it)
Is the dismissal communicated via WhatsApp considered valid? All the rules and sentences relating to this thorny topic.
The dismissal it is already in itself very negative news for a worker who therefore finds himself facing the lack of work and all the negative consequences that derive from it. What makes the situation worse, for many, is the fact of being removed from their employment through message sent via WhatsApp. At this point, many have wondered if this procedure is legal: let’s find out together what the law provides in these cases.
Is dismissal via WhatsApp legal?
More and more often, we read news that concerns various layoffs carried out via Whatsapp. Even if it may seem like it rude and inappropriategiven that something very negative is communicated to the worker, a sentence of 27 June 2017, issued by the Court of Catania, established the legitimacy of this form of communication, as it is written and suitable for informing the person of the dismissal.
The dismissalwhich represents the employer’s unilateral decision to terminate the employment relationship, must be communicated in writing, as required by theart. 2 L. 604/1966even if the law does not specify a precise method of communication, requiring only that the act be made known to the worker in written form (Judgments of the Court of Cassation dated 24 September 2010 n. 20106/2014 and n. 12499/2012).
The case of the Court of Catania
There Court of Catania equated the WhatsApp message to a electronic document capable of identifying both the sender (the employer) and the recipient (the worker), also providing a irrefutable proof of sendingof receiving and reading the message, comparable to a registered letter in all respects, as well as to a PEC or a telegram, given that it has, like these documents, the date and time of sending, as well as the reception and reading data.
In the case of the Catania ruling, the worker contested the dismissal considering it illegitimateas he received such an important communication through a means of communication considered “informal“.
The validity of WhatsApp message read receipts
The Court of Rome, through a sentence of 30 October 2017 n. 8802/2017, also recognized the validity of the WhatsApp read receipts, considering them even better than the recommended one, as they are immediate. Furthermore, they provide the date and time relating to the delivery of the message and its reading.
Furthermore, WhatsApp can be used by the worker for communicate with the employereven in the disciplinary field.
To use a WhatsApp message as evidence in a legal proceedingit is necessary to present the screenshot, which will be considered valid unless their authenticity is disputed. In such a case, the judge may order a technical expertise to check if the message is valid.
