(Finance) – The European Commission decided today to send a reasoned opinion to Italy for the non-alignment of its legislation relating to working conditions of honorary judges to EU labor law. The Commission considers that the Italian legislation does not comply with EU legislation as regards fixed-term work, part-time work, working hours and pregnant workers.
Different categories of honorary magistrates (honorary justices of the peace, honorary deputy prosecutors and honorary court judges) do not enjoy the status of “worker” under Italian national law and are considered volunteers who serve on an “honorary” basis. As a result, they do not enjoy the protection afforded to workers by EU labor law, such as the absence of sickness, accident and pregnancy benefits, pay differentials and tax discrimination.
Honorary magistrates are not not even sufficiently protected from the abusive repetition of fixed-term contracts and they are unable to obtain adequate compensation for such abuses. Finally, Italy has not established a system for measuring the daily working hours of each honorary magistrate.
The reasoned opinion follows a complementary letter of formal notice sent in July 2022. The Commission considers that the reply sent by Italy in December 2022 does not satisfactorily address its concerns and has therefore now decided to send a reasoned opinion. Italy has 2 months to respond and take the necessary measures, after which the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.