L'indebito retributivo nella disciplina del lavoro alle dipendenze delle pubbliche amministrazioni

This essay analyzes the matter of the payment of undue salaries to civil servants. The study develops two sides: the causes of undue payment; the conditions of its refund. At the level of the causes of undue, the study proposes a series of distinctions and makes the subject of separate analysis the so called undue contractual (invalidity of the contract), and the so called undue noncontractual (absence of contract). On the subject of contractual undue payments, which is the quantitatively largest hypothesis, the widespread idea that any situation of invalidity of the collective agreement on the basis of which emoluments were made to staff would automatically generate undue payments is subject to critical scrutiny. At the level of the conditions of the restitution of undue payments, the analysis critically confronts the recent arrest of the Constitutional Court (Constitutional Court 8/2023), which rejected the constitutional legitimacy objection raised in relation to Article 2033 of the Civil Code. Starting from the perspective of enhancing the resources present in the domestic legal system, endorsed by the “Consulta”, the study endeavors to recompose in a unified framework the various measures of protection of the public employee in the face of claims for restitution coming from the employing administration.

Il saggio affronta il tema dell’indebito retributivo nel pubblico impiego. L’analisi si sviluppa su due versanti: i presupposti dell’indebito; le condizioni della sua restituzione. Sul piano del presupposto dell’indebito, lo studio fa oggetto di analisi separata l’indebito c.d. contrattuale, quello che nasce dalla invalidità del titolo attributivo, e l’indebito c.d. extracontrattuale, quello che origina dal pagamento effettuato in assenza di titolo. A proposito dell’indebito contrattuale, che è l’ipotesi quantitativamente maggiore, si sottopone a vaglio critico l’idea diffusa che ogni situazione di invalidità del contratto collettivo sulla base del quale sia stata effettuata l’erogazione di emolumenti al personale sarebbe automaticamente generatrice di pagamenti indebiti. Sul piano delle condizioni della restituzione dell’indebito, l’analisi si confronta criticamente con il recente arresto della Corte costituzionale (Corte cost. n. 8/2023), che ha respinto l’eccezione di legittimità costituzionale sollevata in relazione all’art. 2033 c.c. A partire dalla prospettiva di valorizzazione delle risorse presenti nell’ordinamento interno, fatta propria dalla Consulta, lo studio si sforza di ricomporre in un quadro unitario le diverse misure di tutela del dipendente pubblico a fronte delle pretese restitutorie provenienti dall’Amministrazione datrice di lavoro. Abstract: This essay analyzes the matter of the payment of undue salaries to civil servants. The study develops two sides: the causes of undue payment; the conditions of its refund. At the level of the causes of undue, the study proposes a series of distinctions and makes the subject of separate analysis the so called undue contractual (invalidity of the contract), and the so called undue non contractual (absence of contract). On the subject of contractual undue payments, which is the quantitatively largest hypothesis, the widespread idea that any situation of invalidity of the collective agreement on the basis of which emoluments were made to staff would automatically generate undue payments is subject to critical scrutiny. At the level of the conditions of the restitution of undue payments, the analysis critically confronts the recent arrest of the Constitutional Court (Constitutional Court 8/2023), which rejected the constitutional legitimacy objection raised in relation to Article 2033 of the Civil Code. Starting from the perspective of enhancing the resources present in the domestic legal system, endorsed by the “Consulta”, the study endeavors to recompose in a unified framework the various measures of protection of the public employee in the face of claims for restitution coming from the employing administration.