A man was fired for falling asleep at his desk. The decision, completely overturned in court

A court has ruled in favor of a man employed by a recycling company who was fired for falling asleep on the job.

Sleeping at work PHOTO: Shutterstock

Italian Francesco Rucci was fired in May 2023 after he was photographed with his eyes closed and his head slightly bowed, behavior his employer deemed to be sleeping on the job, claiming it represented “a safety hazard”according to The Telegraph.

Rucci, who worked for Ecologistic, a company that recycles plastic from fruit and vegetable crates, denied any wrongdoing and contested the dismissal, saying he suffered from insomnia.

“I remember perfectly the day I felt dizzy, closed my eyes for about 10 minutes and fell asleep. They fired me“, he declared.

The Court of Appeal in Taranto, a city in southern Italy, decided that the dismissal measure was “unfair” and “an illegitimate act”, noting that “there was no material breach” which would justify the most severe disciplinary sanction.

The judges ordered that Rucci, who had been with the company since 2016, be reinstated and receive all back wages, including back pay.

The court heard that prior to his dismissal, Francesco Rucci had been moved to a workspace where he spent long periods without actually working, following adversarial discussions with bosses over workplace practices.

The new job was described as a promotion, but there was no salary increase or new responsibilities, and Rucci described the position as “an enforced isolation”.

From his office, he said, he could see “just a blank wall, a shelf of boxes, a trash can, and another room through glass windows” and stood there “12 hours a day”, with “no internet connection”.

Rucci also mentioned that he was left there in “total inactivity and professional humiliation”, later reaching to fulfill “minor and degrading duties”.

During the nearly three-year trials, Rucci said he suffered “an emotional breakdown' and that he 'wasn't sleeping'. “At night I had to take pills without which I could not sleep. I was looking at my kids and I felt so guilty”he said.

The family, he added, had to “tighten your belt”because there was only one income, and his wife had to take another part-time job.

Rucci, who was a union representative at the time, criticized the union's lack of response, “who failed to defend even his own member”. He said that other colleagues “they feared reprisals from the company” and that it was “surprised not to receive even a token of sympathy from many of them.”

Now, he fears the reintegration will be awkward. “I don't know how I will be received and how I will feel when I return”. But he said he would return to work “head up”.