Hired on 10 April 2019 for 5 years as a spokesman for Governor Christian Solinas, he was dismissed on 30 June after the entry into force of law 10 of 2021 which eliminated that figure. The freelance journalist Mauro Esu, thanks to a contract and a professional position "equivalent to the managerial one", from one day to the next had to return to his previous job employed by a cooperative, with a fixed-term contract expiring on 30 April 2023. Decision deemed "illegitimate" and "unilateral" by the lawyer Roberto Murgia who, underlining the presence of an employment contract that is still "valid, legitimate and coherent" and noting the absence of a hypothesis of adequate "relocation" despite the fact that in the Region there are "113 managers and a thousand officials who can perform managerial functions, in addition to the regional press office of the applicant's natural seat", he filed an appeal with the Labor Court of Cagliari in which he asks for the reintegration of Esu in the role or in an “equivalent position”, previous salary and compensation.

The hearing is scheduled for February 2 in Cagliari in front of judge Daniela Coinu and Sardara's lunch hovers over the matter, organized last April despite Sardinia being in the orange zone. The former spokesman had participated "with other managers of the Region, almost all of which are currently not confirmed in the position", explains the lawyer, according to whom "it is inevitable to think that the elimination of the figure of the spokesperson from the staff was suggested by the controversial story of the meeting at the spa ". The elimination of the position of spokesman in fact, according to him," was not foreseen in the original bill "but was inserted" hastily only on May 25, 2021, after the media explosion of the case Sardara ". Yet Esu" is not investigated "and has not suffered" administrative sanctions "for" the violation of Covid regulations ". The resulting disciplinary procedure" was extinguished as a result of the withdrawal ", and moreover" also for the administration regional "that behavior could not include expulsion.

Therefore, says Murgia, "it is inevitable to think that the elimination of the figure of the spokesman from the regional staff was suggested precisely by the controversial story of the meeting at the spa and that it was not originally considered functional to the reform of the regional apparatus". Not only. Law 10 eliminated the figure of the spokesperson without being accompanied by "a transitional provision that expressly excluded the current contract", and in any case according to the lawyer, even in that case the decision could only be valid "for the future" because that position was “Existing and fully operational” under the five-year contract.

A "breach of the trust legitimately placed by Esu in the stability" of the agreement stipulated with the Region. The spokesman had "set his life" on "an important managerial role" and "a considerable monthly salary" in the following five years "in the face of the extreme precariousness of the original contract" with the coop. In any case, "the immediate suppression of the spokesperson" can be applied "only from the expiry of the contract" and is also without justification ", because" all political and administrative communication actions relating to the regional government program " they must be "aimed at maximum transparency and dissemination to citizens".

Then the conclusions: declare the decision of the Region illegitimate and immediately reinstate Esu in the role of spokesman "of the President of the Regional Council" or "in another position with executive salary level until the expiry of the original contract"; order the Region to pay compensation for damages, "equal to the difference in salary perceived as spokesperson for the President of the Region compared to that received as an employee" of the previous cooperative "from the date of dismissal to reinstatement or, in any case, until the date of termination of the office of the XVI regional legislature ".

Andrea Manunza

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