“With the imminent conversion into law of the Italian Milleproroghe Decree, the extension of the deadline for entering into a fixed-term contract beyond 12 months, by agreement between the parties, is on its way. The extension granted by the decree will be from 30 April to 31 December 2024 and it will temporarily extend the period in which companies can extend fixed-term contracts up to a total of 24 months, if there are explicit technical, organisational or production needs”, Vittorio De Luca, lawyer and managing partner at De Luca & Partners, explains to Adnkronos/Labitalia.
“The purpose of the provision – explains Mr De Luca who is an expert in this field – is to give the stakeholders more time to adapt the collective bargaining agreements very few of which, for the time being, have introduced provisions on the reasons justifying fixed-term contracts, leaving many production sectors uncovered. In fact, as is well known, the latest amendment to the regulations governing fixed-term contracts was introduced by the Italian Employment Decree (Decree-Law no. 28/2023), which, by reformulating Article 19 of Italian Legislative Decree no. 81/2015, established an innovative regime in the event of continuation of the fixed-term contract beyond the term of 12 months”, he explains.
“The current version of the provision states that, after the first 12 months – for which no reason is required – the fixed-term relationship can continue (up to 24 months) only for the replacement of workers and in the cases provided for by collective bargaining. In the absence of provisions in collective bargaining agreements, on a temporary basis until 30 April 2024 (now extended to 31 December) technical, organisational or production reasons identified by the parties will also be sufficient”, concludes Mr. De Luca.
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