Cliniche Legali

Anyone can become a victim of work exploitation.

It means that an employer takes advantage of an employee who may not know about all of the rights and benefits that are available to them, by abusing of their vulnerability and state of necessity, and depriving them of their work-related rights.

In Italy, work exploitation is punishable by law. As a worker, you have a lot of protection of your rights due to your more vulnerable position vis-à-vis your employer, even if you are working irregularly.

According to Italian Law work exploitation is:

• repeatedly paying you wages that are much lower than the legal minimum salary, or in anyway disproportionate to the quantity and quality of your work;
• repeatedly violating regulations regarding working time, weekly days off, compulsory leave, and holidays;
• violating safety and health regulations at work;
• degrading working conditions, methods of surveillance or housing conditions.

If you want more information regarding the Italian legal framework and work exploitation specifically on undocumented migrants, please click here.

A trade union is a workers organization that represents their rights and interests to employers.

There are many trade unions for workers in Italy, but the biggest and most well-known are:

• CGIL
• CISL
• UIL

All of them have a specialized Labour Disputes Office (Ufficio Vertenze), to which you can go and ask for help regarding your work situation with your employer.

Some of them also have a specialized Office for Migrants, such as the trade union Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) in Turin. For more information, please visit this link.

You can contact CGIL's Office for Migrants in Turin at:

PHONE NUMBER :  011.24.42.399 - 011.24.42.517

ADDRESS: Via Pedrotti, 5 - 10152 Torino

EMAIL: immigrati1@cgiltorino.it

A work complaint is an official statement of complaint. It is given by a worker about the defaults of an employer, usually regarding wages or working conditions. Usually is given in person by the worker to the INPS Inspectorate who writes a written statement that the worker must sign.

You can also report incidents by phone to the Guardia di Finanza by calling 117. In this case, you can ask to be anonymous, and they must then to come to your workplace to verify your statement.

So, the complaint can be either anonymous or signed by the person presenting it. If it is signed by the worker, it's called a formal complaint.

•  If you make a formal complaint, you have to go directly to the INPS Inspectorate section for work. Or alternatively, the Police Headquarters, the Carabinieri or the Guardia di Finanza. This is who you should send the formal complaint, including the personal data of the worker.
• You can make an anonymous complaint by going to a trade union or other association. They will make the formal complaint to the authorities for you, so you do not risk exposing yourself.

For the work complaint you'll need to gather this information:

•  type of employment relationship: (qualification, tasks performed);
•  working methods: (days and hours of work, paid and agreed remuneration, overtime paid);
•  workplace/company data: (registered office, operational headquarters where the employer carried out their activity, or the place where you worked);
•  data of the employer /company manager/ or of the person issuing the orders: (surname and name);
• any documentary evidence: (stipulated contract, paid payslips, checks paid as remuneration);
• any witnesses present during the employment relationship: (work colleagues, suppliers)