Staff - Italy

Updated 12/2010

Legal requirements

The main reference texts regarding the regulation of relations between employers and employees, including trade union relations and the issue of pension funds and benefits, are:

Workers’ Statute
Legislative Decree regulating employment in public administration
Law on liberalization of the labour market (Biagi law)
Employment standards and laws

In Italy entrepreneurs must take into account what are known as collective agreements. These are drawn up at national level and define the basic conditions both from an economic viewpoint (wages, pensions) and regulatory viewpoint (status, duties) for each field (trade, engineering industry, chemical industry).

National bargaining - National Council for Economics and labour (CNEL)

Minimum wages are also set out in collective agreements.

Working hours

The last review of the regulation of working hours reduced the working week to 40 hours per week and 8 hours per day.

Rules governing the promotion of employment
Database of wages, working hours and costs - National Council for Economics and labour

Occupational health and safety

The Italian occupational health and safety act (Legislative Decree 81/2008) groups together and harmonizes the previously enacted laws.

Occupational health and safety act [3 MB]
Occupational health and safety - Ministry of Labour and Social Security

Employment contracts

There are various types of employment contracts, according to the duration and type of activity agreed between the company and the person hired. The main ones are:

Open-ended contracts
Fixed-term contracts
Collaboration contracts
Apprenticeship contracts
Part-time employment contracts

Employing foreigners

Citizens of the 25 EU Member States prior to 1 January 2007 can be regularly hired without the need for a residency permit. The same rules apply for these workers as for Italian citizens. For citizens from Romania and Bulgaria, countries which joined the EU on 1 January 2007, a specific transitional procedure, postponed until 31/12/2010, has been established exclusively for certain job sectors; under this procedure, a specific model must be presented to the one-stop shop for immigration set up by the prefecture.

Free movement of workers and residence of EU citizens
European citizens' access to the labour market
No impediment to Romanian and Bulgarian workers

There are two ways to hire non-EU nationals:

directly in Italy if already in possession of a residence permit and certain requirements stipulated by law;
from abroad as part of the entry quotas set out annually by the government and with the exception of particular cases of entry outside of these quotas.
Entry and residency of non-EU workers

There are minimum social rules to follow, especially about non-discrimination, gender equality and health and safety.

Staff welfare — Italy

Administrative procedures

Starting and ending employment

Managing staff (hiring, extending contracts, etc.) entails a series of procedures which are carried out in conjunction with various public bodies. These are each grouped under the relevant definition:“compulsory communication” which must be sent via Internet with a single administrative procedure. The compulsory communication notices are then sorted and forwarded to the relevant bodies.

Ministry of Labour and Social Security - Compulsory Communication

In order to complete the compulsory communication procedures for managing staff it is necessary that the business headquarters are recognised by the region.

Documents will then be entered into a system set up by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Ministry of Labour and Social Security

Social security contributions

Workers employed in the private sector and the majority of self-employed workers should be compulsorily registered to the National Social Security Institute (INPS) or to the specific pension funds for the sector of activity.

Self-employed workers, for whom there is no pension fund, parasubordinate workers, part-time workers with an annual income of greater than € 5,000 and the associates in partnerships must be compulsorily registered and contribute to the separate management set up by the INPS.

Italian National Social Security Institute - Forms
All about INPS - Pensions, contributions, information and services

Resources

The online job matching system promoted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security assists businesses in searching for new staff and keeping up to date with market trends and legislation.

National job matching system

EURES, the European job portal, offers employers information and support on recruiting across the EU. As well as assisting jobseekers, it helps entrepreneurs find workers from across the EU. In border regions, EURES provides information on cross-border commuting and helps workers and employers with problems that may arise.

Check also the legislation on this topic in: