Italy’s top court has ruled that an employee of Fiat did nothing wrong when he watched porn films during his lunch break, and so could not be sacked.
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Fiat had fired the man from its Termini Imerese plant near Palermo in Sicily after a computer and three porn DVDs were found in his locker.
Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation threw out an appeal from the car-maker which had wanted to dismiss the man.
In 2010, a court in Sicily upheld the factory’s decision to sack the man, triggering the protracted legal battle.
According to the Economic Times, the court said in its ruling: ‘The evidence was insufficient to prove that the employee viewed porn during his working hours’.
Bosses had caught the man watching adult films at work, but he argued that his viewing was limited to “catching a glimpse of a movie during his lunch break”.
They were later awarded compensation from employer Conoco Phillips for unfair dismissal, after the matter had been through local, appeal and Supreme Court hearings.
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But it turns out that watching porn isn’t as bad as smoking a joint. In a separate case, a court in Rome ruled that the company was justified in sacking a worker who smoked marijuana during his lunch break.
