Il saggio è la rielaborazione della relazione tenuta il 14 maggio 2021 al Convegno nazionale del Centro Studi Domenico Napoletano dal titolo Tutela del lavoro e della salute nelle emergenze - I licenziamenti impossibili nelle emergenze: ieri e oggi.

The essay analyzes the forbidding of redundancies and individual economic dismissals linked to the Covid 19 pandemic during 2020 – 2021. First of all the author examines the emergency situation caused by the pandemic, which authorized the use of special legislation derogating the normal legal sources. Then the essay focuses on the purposes followed by the legislator and on the techniques used (concentrating on the relationships between the ban on dismissals and the use of “cassa integrazione guadagni” – a suspension of the labour contract without salary and the entitlement of the workers to receive an indemnity from the State). After that the author analyzes the compatibility of this new legislation with the Italian Constitution and European legal sources, concluding that most of these laws – with a limited duration – did not breach them. After examining the employers involved in the ban and the characteristics of the dismissals forbidden, the essay considers the effects deriving from the breach of the ban, concluding that any redundancies and individual dismissals carried out despite the ban must be considered void. Finally the author looks at the exceptions to the ban, studying the cases in which some dismissals can be carried out notwithstanding the legal prohibition.