The so-called “Code of contracts”, contained in Italian Legislative Decree no. 81 which became effective 25 June 2015, dedicates the entire 5th section to the outsourcing of work, which has been reinforced in a context of a complete revision of the previous laws as per the Biagi Decree (Legislative Decree 276/2003). With the specific reference to the outsourcing of short-term work, the delegated legislator, on one hand has confirmed the “acausal nature” of the same without time limits (unlike the 36 months established for a short-term contract) and at the same time has introduced new bans. With this Reform, the user no longer has the option to use this type of work or layoffs or redundancy benefits in the event of a company crisis, which were all allowed previously. However, the quotas established by the applied collective contracts remain and thus continue to play an important role in regulating these cases. Nevertheless, the new restrictions on short-term outsourcing corresponds to a “deregulation” of open-ended contract (known as staff leasing) which, even if subject to quotas identical to those for workers hired with short-term contracts (i.e. 20 percent of the number of workers with open-ended contracts on the job at the user as of 1 January of the year the contract is stipulated), the specific reasons part has been removed, which had resulted in de facto limitation on use when the Biagi Decree was in effect. Lastly, the process for redefining the contractual provisions changed the type in question aligning the outsourcing of short-term work with short-term contract and giving greater flexibility to staff leasing as open-ended contractual type.
