Contributo destinato alla raccolta di Scritti in onore di Raffaele De Luca Tamajo.

The essay is entirely dedicated to the legislative decree that – in application of the parliamentary mandate n. 189/2014 – introduces the new penalty regime to apply in case of wrongful terminations of those employees (who were employed after the approval of the mentioned legislative decree) hired under the new form of permanent contract called: “contratto di lavoro subordinato a tutele crescenti”. This study is composed of three parts. The introduction contains a general analysis of the content of the new law and discusses its impact on the labor legal field. The first part highlights the potential risks related to the definition of the application field of the new penalty regime, with specific regard to the article 3 of the Constitution. On the other side, the second part of this study faces the most relevant questions of interpretation that eventually would arise on the new penalty regime; specifically, this section analyzes the new discipline of the distribution of the burden of proof in order to identify the cases of potential judicial reinstatement of the employee.