The Position and Function of Executive Staff Members in Italian Labour Law

As in many other national legal systems, executive staff in Italy are classified as salaried employees (“lavoratori dipendenti”). In this respect executive staff members are covered, at least in principle, by the protection offered by labour law. This principle is regulated at the highest level of the hierarchy among the law sources by art. 35 of the Italian Constitution 1948: «The Republic protects work in all its forms and applications». In the same way, art. 2060 of the Italian Civil Code of 1942 states that: «work is protected under all its forms organisational and executive, intellectual, technical and manual». However, in practical terms, as in many other countries, the legal and contractual protection for this category of employees is attenuated and varies greatly depending on the legal definitions used for directors or managers and their role in the undertaking. Executive staff members are covered by specific legal and/or contractual provisions resulting from a complex historical process, and theoretical and practical implications of this process are the examined in this study. With regard to the specificity of the Italian case, the legal paradigm plays a central and decisive role. An analysis of collective bargaining and business practice clearly shows that the vague notion of “executive staff” encompasses at least two groups of employees governed by divergent legal and contractual provisions: top managers (“dirigenti”) on the one hand, and middle management or cadres (“quadri intermedi” or “quadri”) on the other.