Reasons, duration, extensions, costs, penalties and more. There are several chapters of the legislation on fixed-term contracts that the Government has modified with the dignity decree. The Minister of Labour, Luigi Di Maio, spoke of a "Waterloo of precariousness", but there was no shortage of critical voices.
From the left, there are those who maintain that the scope of the provision is all in all limited, those who complain about the failure to reintroduce Article 18 and those who maintain – with the president of INPS, Tito Boeri – that the package of rules will cause the loss of about 80 jobs in 10 years.
From the right, however, the criticisms have focused on the increase in the cost of labor borne by companies. The small and medium-sized entrepreneurs of the North have therefore obtained a counterpart from the League: the extension of the Gentiloni bonus (with the 2018 rules) to the two-year period 2019-2020 was added to the text in Parliament. In essence, it is a three-year contribution discount of 50% with a ceiling of 3 euros for the permanent hiring of workers under the age of 35.
But let's go back to fixed-term contracts and see one by one the innovations introduced with the decree transformed into law on 7 August.
1) DURATION
– The maximum duration of fixed-term contracts is reduced from 36 to 24 months. The limit is valid both for a single contract and for the sum of several contracts: the total duration of the employment relationship counts.
2) EXTENSIONS
– The possible extensions are reduced from 5 to 4, without prejudice to the maximum total duration limit of 24 months. In the event of a fifth extension, the contract becomes open-ended. The limit on the number of extensions does not apply to innovative start-ups until the completion of the fourth year from the establishment of the company.
3) CAUSES
– The obligation to indicate the reasons returns in contracts longer than 12 months, in extensions that go beyond this duration limit and in contractual renewals even if they do not exceed the annual term. The contracts of seasonal workers are excluded from the causal obligation.
4) COST OF RENEWAL
– For each renewal starting from the second, there is a 0,5% increase in the additional contribution (currently equal to 1,4% of the taxable salary for social security purposes). The burden will not weigh on the families who have domestic cleaners or caregivers employed by them (according to Assindatcolf, the cost would have been 160 euros per family).
5) RENEWAL WITHOUT LIMITS IN THE SCHOOL
– Removed the overall duration limit of fixed-term contracts (even non-continuous) in schools, set at 36 months by the 2015 reform called "Buona Scuola". The rule had been inserted in order not to violate the EU rules on fixed-term work, which impose the setting of a maximum duration limit without differences between public and private.
6) SANCTIONS FOR VIOLATIONS ON THE CAUSES
– If a contract lasting more than 12 months is stipulated in violation of the causal obligation, the transformation into an open-ended contract is automatically triggered.
7) OTHER SANCTIONS
– Furthermore, the new legislation provides that when the administration of work "is put in place with the specific purpose of circumventing mandatory rules of law or of the collective agreement applied to the worker, the administrator and the user are punished with a fine of 20 euros for each worker involved and each day of administration”.
8) FORWARD CONTRACTS RATES
– The share of employees hired with fixed-term contracts "cannot exceed 30% of the number of permanent workers employed by the user on January 0,5 of the year of stipulation of the aforesaid contract, with a decimal rounded up to the higher unit if it is equal to or greater than XNUMX".
9) VOUCHERS ALSO IN TOURISM
– The vouchers can also be used in the tourism sector, as well as in agriculture, but only for activities with up to 8 employees. Furthermore, as already foreseen, the vouchers can be used as a form of payment for the work of pensioners, the unemployed, students up to the age of 25 and recipients of forms of income support. The maximum duration of use increases from three to 10 days.
10) TRANSITIONAL PERIOD
– Finally, to allow companies to adapt to the changes, the law provides for a transitional period: the new rules on fixed-term contracts will not apply to extensions and renewals signed until 31 October 2018.
