By Judgment no. 67 of 11 April 2023, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that “in labour litigation, if the defendant applied for joinder of a third party in its pleading that was filed in due time, the court shall rule on the relevant application only at the oral hearing. If joinder is allowed, the court will adjourn to a subsequent hearing to enable this to be held in accordance with the time limit afforded to the third party for filing a defense.”

This is because an action against a third party, unlike a counterclaim, is brought against someone who is not a party to the case, and in labour litigation, which is characterized as a specialty, there remains the requirement that the parties be heard before the third party can be summoned by the defendant to join the case.

The Italian Constitutional Court therefore reiterated that the Legislator may lay down different rules governing joinder of a third party for ordinary cognizance proceedings (which require the defendant to apply for postponement of the first hearing in order to summon a third party to join the case) and for labour litigation (which is inspired by the principles of concentration and speed), having regard to the specific needs of each procedural model and the principle of reasonable length of proceedings.

Marco Gianluigi Alberio