Court overturns Fiat’s sacking of worker for watching porn

Italian carmaker Fiat has lost an appeal over its firing of an employee for watching pornographic films during his lunch break.

A local court backed up the man’s firing from his production line job at Fiat’s Termini Imerese plant in Sicily in 2010 but Palermo’s court of appeal overturned the decision, which was backed up by Italy’s highest authority, the Court of Cassation.

The court said the man had done nothing wrong and was fully entitled to watch whatever he wanted during his lunch break.

The fired worker argued that he was only “catching a glimpse” of the film, but the court ruled that as it was not during his working hours, Fiat had no right to reprimand him.

Fiat did not lose all of its legal battles this week, though, because the same court on the same day ruled the carmaker was within its rights to sack a worker for smoking cannabis during his lunch break.