Answer ... The hierarchy of laws in Italy is as follows:

• EU directives and regulations and international treaties;
• the Italian Constitution and laws:
• ordinary laws (ie, the Civil Code);
• the provisions of collective and individual bargaining agreements; and
• customs (ie, company practices).

The main Italian labour laws are:

• Law 604/1966, which regulates individual dismissals;
• the Workers’ Statute (Law 300/1970), which sets out rules to protect the freedom and dignity of employees, trade union activity in the workplace and rules on employment;
• Law 223/1991, which regulates collective redundancies;
• Legislative Decree 66/2003 on working time;
• Legislative Decree 81/2008 on health and safety in the workplace;
• the Fornero Law (92/2012), which regulates various issues relating to labour relations, including a special court procedure for disputes concerning dismissals subject to the provisions of Article 18 of the Workers’ Statute;
• Legislative Decree 23/2015, which introduced new protections against unlawful dismissals, applicable only to workers who are hired on an indefinite-term basis with effect from 7 March 2015; and
• Legislative Decree 81/2015, providing comprehensive regulation of employment contracts, as well as a revision of the regulations on job duties.

Answer ... In addition to the sources of law, individual and collective contracts play a vital role in the labour law context. National collective labour agreements (CCNLs) are particularly important; through these agreements, trade unions and employers’ associations agree on both regulatory and economic aspects (eg, minimum wages) of employment relationships in certain industries. However, in light of the hierarchy of laws set out in question 1.1, the provisions of collective agreements may derogate from those with the force of law only if they are more favourable to the employee.

Unlike regulatory sources of law, CCNLs do not apply to all employment relationships; they have binding effect only if the employer:

• is a member of a trade union association that is a signatory to the same CCNL; or
• has voluntarily applied the CCNL, adhering to its provisions either:
• • explicitly (eg, by indicating the details of the CCNL in the letter of employment); or
  • implicitly (eg, by spontaneously and consistently applying the CCNL, or at least its most relevant clauses).

Employers, together with their trade associations, and workers’ representatives, together with the relevant trade unions, can also sign collective agreements at the company or territorial level, in order to supplement the CCNL with more specific and business-friendly provisions.

Answer ... Regardless of the category or classification assigned to the employee, an employment contract generally need not be executed in writing, except in certain cases, in accordance with the rules set out in the Civil Code on contracts, which are generally applicable thereto. An employment contract may thus be executed orally or through conclusive behaviour. In practice, however, employment relationships are usually concluded in writing, without prejudice to the possibility of referring to the provisions of law and of the applicable CCNL for the regulation of certain non-essential elements.

Certain types of contracts, such as labour supply contracts and fixed-term employment contracts, are required by law to be executed in writing, in any case as regards:

• the term (where this exceeds 12 days); and
• certain clauses (eg, those relating to probation periods and non-compete obligations).

By law, the employer must provide the following information in writing to the employee:

• the parties’ identification data;
• the place of work;
• the employment start date;
• provisions relating to any probation period;
• the duration of the employment relationship; and
• the employee’s classification, level, qualifications and job duties.

In addition, where there is no reference to the provisions of an applicable collective agreement, the employer must provide the employee with the following information in writing:

• the duration of any probation period;
• the remuneration for the role;
• the number of holidays;
• the employee’s working hours; and
• the notice period in the event of termination.

The employer must also provide the following information in writing to the competent employment centre:

• the recruitment notice;
• the content of the employment contract; and
• other information concerning the employment relationship.

On 29 July 2022, Legislative Decree 104/2022 was published in the Official Gazette.

The long-awaited statute:

• implements EU Directive 2018/1152 of 20 June 2019 on Transparent Working Conditions to be Disclosed by Employers to Employees; and
• revises and amends the provisions set out in Legislative Decree 152/1997.

The new regime took effect on 13 August 2022.

The decree applies to almost all types of employment relationships, with the exception of:

• self-employment relationships; and
• those characterised by a predetermined actual working time equal to or less than three hours per week, in average, over four consecutive weeks.

Where the regime applies, the employer (or the principal in the case of coordinated and continuous collaborations) must notify the employee of the following information:

• the identity of the parties, including co-contractors/co-employers;
• the place of work. In the absence of a fixed or predominant place of work, the employer must communicate that the worker is employed in different places or is free to determine their place of work;
• the place of business or domicile of the employer;
• the classification, level and qualification assigned to the worker, or the characteristics or a summary description of the work;
• the date of commencement of the employment relationship;
• the type of employment relationship, specifying, in the case of a fixed-term relationship, the expected duration thereof;
• where the worker is employed by an employment agency, the identity of the final employer, when and as soon as known;
• the length of the trial period, if any;
• the right to receive training provided by the employer, if any;
• the duration of holiday leave and other paid leave to which the worker is entitled or, if this cannot be indicated at the time of the information, the manner in which it is to be determined and taken;
• the procedure, form and terms of notice in the event of termination by either the employer or the employee;
• the initial amount of remuneration, or the remuneration and its constituent elements, with an indication of the time and manner of payment;
• the schedule of normal working hours and any conditions relating to overtime work and its remuneration, as well as any conditions for shift changes, if the employment contract provides for the organisation of working time in whole or in part;
• where the employment relationship is typically organised by largely or wholly unforeseeable arrangements with no planned regular working hours, and the employee is neither a seafarer nor a fisher:
• • the variability of the work schedule, the minimum amount of guaranteed paid hours and the remuneration for work performed in addition to the guaranteed hours;
  • the reference hours and days on which the worker is required to work; and
  • the minimum notice period to which the worker is entitled before the commencement of work and, where permitted by the type of contract in use and agreed on, the period within which the employer may cancel the assignment;
• any collective agreement, including a company collective agreement, applied to the employment relationship, with an indication of the signatories thereto;
• the bodies and institutions that receive social security and insurance contributions due from the employer and any form of social security protection provided by the employer; and
• the elements provided for in Article 1-bis of Legislative Decree 152/1997, if the manner in which the service is performed is organised through the use of automated decision-making or monitoring systems.

The obligation to provide this information is discharged by delivering to the employee, upon the establishment of the employment relationship and prior to the commencement of work, either:

• the individual employment contract drawn up in writing; or
• a copy of the notice of the establishment of the employment relationship sent to the competent employment centres.

The National Labour Inspectorate has issued Circular 4/2022 to clarify a number of points regarding the fulfilment of these information obligations. In particular, even where an employee has already learned of the main conditions set out in Article 1 (eg, daily working time; number of working days per week; monthly salary amount for number of months), if the individual employment contract or a copy of the communication of the establishment of the employment relationship is delivered to the employee, the corresponding regulations may be communicated simply by referring to the applicable collective agreement or to other company documents if these are simultaneously delivered to the employee or made available in accordance with company practice.

In support of the aforementioned circular, the Ministry of Labour also issued Circular 19/2022 to clarify the new regulations. In particular, the ministry clarified the following:

• In relation to leave of absence, pay is available only for those periods of absence which are expressly recognised as ‘leave of absence’ – for example:
• • maternity and paternity leave, parental leave and extraordinary leave for assistance to disabled persons, in accordance with the rules set out in Legislative Decree 151/2001;
  • leave for care for disabled persons, according to Article 7 of Legislative Decree 119/2011; and
  • leave for women victims of gender violence according to Article 24 of Legislative Decree 80/2015.
• The remuneration should include only what is actually foreseeable at the time of employment. Therefore, it is not necessary to include any variable elements (although, with regard to the production bonus, it is necessary to indicate the criteria for its recognition) or any corporate welfare measures, unless collective bargaining recognises these as part of the remuneration structure.
• With regard to working time, the information should focus on:
• • the employee’s specific working hours;
  • the conditions of shift changes;
  • the modalities and limits of overtime work; and
  • the relevant remuneration.
• In case of subsequent changes to working hours, information must be provided only if they affect working time structurally or over a significant period.
• According to the ministry, the definition of ‘foreseeable work’ generally also includes shift work and multi-period work. In such cases, it will suffice:
• • to indicate that the worker is included in the working time structure; and
  • to specify the manner in which the worker will be provided with information on the matter.
• With reference to the automated systems referred to in Article 1bis, an obligation to provide information exists in relation to:
• • recruitment or assignment through the use of chatbots during interviews;
  • automated profiling of candidates;
  • screening of CVs;
  • use of software for emotional recognition and aptitude tests; and
  • management or termination of the employment relationship through automated assignment or withdrawal of tasks, duties or shifts, definition of working hours, productivity analysis, determination of remuneration, promotions and so on using statistical analysis, data analytics or machine learning tools, neural networks, deep-learning or similar.
• By contrast, information need not be provided in the case of, for instance, automated systems for recording clocking on and clocking off, which do not constitute a fully automated activity triggering an action which is typically an employer’s. However, information must be provided where automated systems such as tablets, digital devices and wearables, Global Positioning System and geo-localisers, facial recognition systems, rating and ranking systems are used by the employer.