# Legal advice - labour laws and employee protection in Italy



## sarahkatesharp (Nov 19, 2012)

Hi,

I am a South African who recently spent 7 months living and working in Italy at the University of Pavia in Lombardia. Having recently returned to South Africa, I find myself in an extremely difficult position, whereby my employer (an academic at the university) is withholding my final month's salary. All attempts to contact him have proven futile - he ignores my emails and my calls. I successfully managed to contact the administrative office/ payroll and - unfortunately for me - his girlfriend is the contact person there. The only information she will give me is that the payment of my salary is 'in dispute'. Additionally, when I requested copies of my pay slips/ invoices of my salary payments, I noticed that an invoice had been issued for the month in question - that is to say that the university's administrative system now apparently - and fraudulently - reflects that I have been paid!

I am at an absolute loss as to what to do at the moment. All attempts to contact other departments at the university have failed to elicit a single response - presumably because my emails are in English? I consulted a lawyer here in SA, but this is of course useless in terms of taking this man on in Italy (language being the first problem). 

Any advice with regards to a possible next step, or who I could contact (Italy must surely have labour laws) would be much appreciated. It is particularly difficult as I still have outstanding accounts in Italy which of course need to be paid (and I have no desire to be blacklisted in a foreign country!).

Grazie Mille


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Only thing I could suggest is trying to contact one of the union bodies.

Il Patronato Acli apre a Cape Town e Durban

Those are the only ones I can find near Cape Town


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