Last Updated on January 17, 2025
Changes to the guidelines for fixed-term contracts and staff leasing, new rules for unjustified absence and definition of deadlines for smart working communications.
These are the main provisions in Law no. 203 of 13 December 2024 (so-called Collegato lavoro (Labour Bill) and Decree Law no. 202 of 27 December 2024 (so-called Decree Law Milleproroghe 2025).
WHAT’S INTRODUCED WITH THE LABOUR BILL
Safety at work
Amendments to the Consolidated Law on health and safety in the workplace. With reference specifically to health surveillance:
- the medical examination during the pre-employment phase constitutes one of the ways of fulfilling the obligation of a preventive medical examination for ensuring job suitability;
- the company doctor may, during the preventive medical examination, take into account results from employees’ previous examinations, in order to avoid repetition;
- an examination to assess the job suitability of an employee absent for more than 60 days shall be carried out only if deemed necessary by the company doctor;
- the ASL (local health authority) shall be the competent body for examining any appeals against the doctor’s judgments instead of the current generic ‘supervisory body’.
Redundancy pay
New rules regarding compatibility between redundancy pay and intermittent work.
These now stipulate that laid-off workers carrying out other work, either as employees or self-employed, shall not receive redundancy pay for the days worked.
Staff leasing
Elimination of the provision that, until 30 June 2025, allowed the user to use the same worker for more than 24 months if said worker was hired by the Staff leasing agency for an indefinite period.
Changes have also been made to the maximum quotas regarding temporary staff leasing. As a general rule, the number of temporary agency workers and those hired directly on a fixed-term basis may not exceed 30% of the user’s permanent employees, unless otherwise provided for by collective agreements. The measure now states that this limit does not apply – in addition to the categories already provided for (i.e. dismissed employees, certain categories of unemployed, the disadvantaged and greatly disadvantaged) – to workers:
- over 50;
- hired:
- for new business start-ups,
- by innovative start-ups, for seasonal work, for specific television or radio programmes and shows, to replace absent workers;
- hired by the Agency for permanent work.
Lastly, it specifies that the obligatory requirement of specific grounds to enter into an employment contract no longer applies to fixed-term employment contracts for those who have been on unemployment pay or social security benefits for at least six months or for disadvantaged or greatly disadvantaged workers.
Fixed-term contracts
The measure:
a. incorporates the provisions of the so-called Transparency Decree regarding the probationary period. It specifies in particular a probationary period for fixed-term contracts of one day of actual work for every 15 calendar days from the start of the employment relationship, without prejudice to more favourable collective bargaining provisions.
In any event, the probationary period shall not be less than 2 days or more than:
- 15 days for contracts of up to 6 months;
- 30 days for contracts between 6 and 12 months.
b. with authentic interpretation of Article 21, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 81/2015, it broadens the definition of seasonal work to include not only work identified by Presidential Decree 1525/1963, but also that organised to meet peaks of activity as well as technical-productive needs or those linked to seasonal production cycles, as provided for by collective agreements.
Smart Working
Relative to remote working, a five-day notice has been introduced for mandatory communications regarding the commencement, changes in duration and termination of smart working.
Mixed contracts
A new hybrid mixed-cause contract has been introduced, which means a person can work for a company part-time with an employment contract and part-time as a VAT-registered self-employed worker, thus benefiting from the self-employed flat-rate tax regime.
This regime is now accessible to persons registered with professional registers or directories who collaborate with companies having more than 250 employees and who are at the same time employed by them with an open-ended part-time contract for between 40 and 50% of the working hours provided for by the relative collective agreement. The self-employment contract must be certified and the related activity must not overlap with the subordinate employment. Finally, the flat-rate tax regime is now also accessible to those who are not enrolled on registers or directories if provided for by specific proximity agreements.
Resignation and unjustified absence
In the event of an employee’s unjustified absence lasting longer than the term provided for by the collective agreement or, in the absence of a contractual provision, longer than 15 days, the employer is now required to notify the National Labour Inspectorate. In this case, the employee is understood to have terminated the relationship, unless they can prove their inability to communicate their absence due to circumstances beyond their control or for reasons attributable to the company.
Social Security Contribution debts
As from 1 January 2025, INPS and INAIL shall allow payment in instalments of debts for social security contributions, premiums, plus VAT and Lawyers’ Social Security Fund, not entrusted to collection agencies for recovery, up to a maximum number of sixty monthly instalments, in cases however to be defined by a subsequent ministerial decree.
“APE sociale” and those who started working at an early age
The deadlines for submitting applications for access to the “APE sociale” (Advance Pension Payment) and early retirement with reduced contribution requirements for those who started working at an early age have been standardised as follows: 31 March, 15 July and, in any case, no later than 30 November of each year.
UPDATES TO THE “MILLEPROROGHE”
Fixed-term contracts
The measure modifies the rules regarding the reasons justifying the recourse to fixed-term employment contracts, giving the individual parties until 31 December 2025 to proceed with their identification.
The current rules state that identification of the conditions legitimising the imposition on the contract of a term exceeding 12 months and not exceeding 24 months is left, on a permanent basis, to collective bargaining at any level (national, territorial or company). In the absence of such collective provisions and only until 31 December 2025 (instead of 31 December 2024), employer and employee may exceed the 12-month limit by identifying needs of a technical, productive and organisational nature in individual contracts.
For more information: comunicazione@toffolettodeluca.it
