OVERVIEW

Labour law is the study of the legal discipline that regulates individual employment relationships and collective relationships (collective agreements, trade union rights, conflict).

The course focuses on the discipline of the private sector, examined in the light of EU law and in a historical and diachronic perspective

The course can be usefully integrated with the teachings of Social Security Law, Industrial Relations Law, EU Labour Law, Labour Law in the Digital Economy..

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides students with knowledge about Italian employment law (the legal regulation of the employment relation and of the employment market, the analysis of the legal forms of workers’ participation at plant level and of collective bargaining). Students shall be able to understand the employment dynamics and the national employment legal regulation also in the light of European Union principles and labour and social policies. Employment law is a fundamental course. In order to understand employment law, students are required to have knowledge of the basics of Italian law (Italian constitutional law, Italian civil law).

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Individual study, attendance at lessons and participation in the various training activities proposed (e.g. thematic meetings with scholars of the subject, mid-year tests, recommended readings, case law and other documents analyzed in class and made available in aulaweb, optional legal clinic) will allow the student to:

- Understand, from a historical and evolutionary perspective, the structure and the functioning mechanism of the industrial relations system and be aware of the meaning and relevance of union rights within the workplace;
- Understand, from a historical and evolutionary perspective, the main dynamics of collective conflict with particular regard to strikes (also in essential public services) and anti-union conduct;
- Identify, interpret and apply the provisions of the main sources (legal and contractual) of reference in the field of employment relationships to provide reasoned solutions to concrete issues that may arise within complex organizations (companies as well as groups and networks of companies, non-profit organizations).
- Understand and distinguish the types of subordinate and self-employed work and the related legal effects;
Identify, understand and apply the rules that govern the exercise of the employer's powers, the transformative and extinguishing events of employment relationships, the anti-discrimination discipline;
- Understand and critically evaluate, with independent judgment, the most recent market and employment relationship reforms as well as the main reference texts and agreements in the industrial relations system;
- Read and critically examine, with independent judgment, texts of sentences of the Courts of Merit, of Legitimacy, of the Constitutional Court, of the Court of Justice, relating to labor law issues;
- Express oneself with appropriate technical legal language.

PREREQUISITES

Labour law is a fundamental discipline of a specialist nature, for the learning of which it is necessary to have already acquired the basic institutional notions (Italian constitutional law, Italian civil law).

Very useful, to understand the evolution of the subject, is the knowledge of the Italian history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as the institutional and social news of the last twenty years.

TEACHING METHODS

Students are invited to enroll in the course and follow the information that will be gradually provided and updated.

The course is taught with lectures, for a total of 72 hours divided into the two semesters. Texts of sentences, regulatory texts or collective agreements of particular relevance analyzed and commented in class will be made available in Aulaweb, as well as some sources (particularly of union law) useful in the study of the subject, as well as any relevant regulatory updates (covered in class) subsequent to the updating of the reference manuals (see Texts).

Students who will be on Erasmus in one of the two semesters will still be able to attend classes in the other semester (and take the written test reserved for those attending that semester), agreeing directly with the teacher on the methods of integrating their preparation.

Students who will not attend the course (especially those who work) can contact the teacher for any clarification and for assistance in studying both the teacher and the course tutor (who will be indicated in aulaweb).

Occasionally, scholars and experts in the subject may be invited to give a lesson or a small seminar on topics of particular interest and current interest, also in order to allow students to acquire greater awareness of the need for a critical approach to the subject.

Where possible (and having verified the interest of those attending), two optional written tests will be organized during the year reserved for those attending (see Exam methods). All the indications will be promptly inserted in Aulaweb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The sources of labor law - Trade union organization, collective bargaining, union rights - Collective conflict - Subordination and autonomy - The protection of labor in the market - The fundamental rights of the worker - Powers, rights and obligations of the parties in the employment relationship - Management of employment relationships and business events - Termination of the employment relationship - Guarantees of worker rights.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Textbooks and any reading materials for students attending
M.V. Ballestrero – G. De Simone, Diritto del lavoro, Giappichelli, Turin, VI edition received and updated, 2025.

The in-depth studies and updates carried out in class – and the related materials uploaded to aulaweb – will be part of the exam program.

Textbooks and any reading materials for non-attending students
1) M.V. Ballestrero – G. De Simone, Diritto del lavoro, Giappichelli, Turin, VI revised and updated edition, 2025 with the sole exclusion of Part II;

2) M.V. Ballestrero, Diritto sindacale, Giappichelli, Turin, VII revised and updated edition, 2023 with the following specifications: Part I, Chapter I reading only; exclusion of Part V

Students may ask to study from other university textbooks, specifying the relevant indications to the teacher well in advance, which will be assessed considering their adequacy with respect to the exam program.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

I semester from September  to December 4th 2025
II semester from February  to May 7th 2026

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For Erasmus students, the exam will be oral only (unless a written test is requested, by sending an email to the teacher when registering for the exam).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For Erasmus students, the exam will be oral only (unless a written test is requested, by sending an email to the teacher when registering for the exam).

The interview will be held with at least two official members of the Commission, and will be concluded by the course owner (for those who will take the exam on the program attending, and in any case for anyone who requests it) or by another professor of the subject.

The ultimate goal, in any case, is to ascertain that the student has sufficiently achieved the specific educational objectives and expected learning outcomes (see Educational objectives and learning outcomes, Part I).​

FURTHER INFORMATION

All information and all updates will be available in aulaweb.