Y-front wearing Italian policeman who became a symbol of slackers wins €227k compensation
An Italian policeman who was widely mocked and lost his job after being filmed clocking on for work in his underpants is to receive more than €225,000 in compensation for wrongful dismissal.
Alberto Muraglia, 61, became a laughing stock in 2015 when he was caught on CCTV punching his time card in a machine, while wearing just a baggy T-shirt and Y-fronts.
He was accused of rolling out of bed in the council accommodation that he and his family lived in, stamping his work card, and then going back to sleep.
Mr Muraglia was caught as part of an investigation into absenteeism at the council in the seaside town of Sanremo, in the northwestern region of Liguria.
The image of the policeman in his underwear became an emblem of Italy’s battle against “fannulloni”, or good-for-nothing slackers, in council offices and government departments across the country.
As a result of the furore, he lost his job.
A paragon of virtue
But after a lengthy legal battle, a court of appeal in nearby Genoa has ruled that Mr Muraglia was not skiving off and ordered the council to pay him €227,000 (£236,000) in lost pay and compensation.
The court also said that he should get his job back.
Mr Muraglia’s lawyers said that far from being a work-shy skiver, he was in fact a paragon of virtue.
They said he rose every morning at 5.30am to open the gates of the local fruit and vegetable market and then started work as a policeman half an hour later.
In return for opening up the market each morning, he and his family were allowed to live in council accommodation free of charge.
A different court had acquitted him in 2020 of defrauding the state of public money, ruling that he was entitled to clock on and then go and get dressed because getting ready for work was part and parcel of his job.
‘Ill never wear the uniform again’
Mr Muraglia says he is pleased to have won compensation but does not want is old job back. He said he clocked in for work in his underwear “in order to save time”.
“I will never put the uniform back on. No one has asked forgiveness for what happened and for me that is unacceptable,” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
He said the past few years had been “hell” during which he was pilloried by the whole country and had to attend multiple court appearances and meetings with lawyers.
“I stopped watching the TV because on every channel I saw that photo of me in my underpants. My life changed drastically because I found myself unemployed and without a place to live.”
But the interminable legal saga is set to continue. The town council is not happy with the compensation ruling and has pledged to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court in Rome.
