What is the fixed-term employment contract

The fixed-term employment contract, or fixed-term contract, defines an  employee or subordinate employment relationship in which the worker is hired for a defined period of time . The contract, therefore, in addition to having a predetermined start date,  also reports a date that indicates the end  of the employment relationship Free background check online.

Form of the fixed-term employment contract

As required by law, the fixed-term employment contract must be  drawn up in writing and delivered to the worker , after being signed by both parties , within 5 days from the start of the service. The final date must necessarily result from the contract , since in the absence of this detail the contract is considered to be indefinite .

The written document is not required if the duration of the employment relationship does not exceed 12 days.

Limitations

It is not possible to stipulate a fixed-term contract in the following cases: to replace striking workers

in production units in which, in the previous 6 months, collective redundancies occurred which involved workers with the same duties to which the fixed-term employment contract refers (an exception is made in the case in which the fixed-term contract has been concluded to provide for the replacement of absent workers, to hire workers registered in the mobility lists or have an initial duration not exceeding 3 months)

at production units affected by a suspension of work or a reduction in working hours under the wage supplement scheme for workers with the same duties to which the fixed-term contract refers

by employers who have not carried out the risk assessment required by the legislation on the protection of the health and safety of workers

In the event that any of these prohibitions are violated, the contract is transformed into a permanent contract.

There are also some quantitative limits for the hiring of fixed-term workers: unless otherwise provided by collective agreements, fixed-term workers may be hired up to 20% of the number of permanent workers.

The purpose of the fixed-term contract

Before the Jobs Act , the fixed-term subordinate employment contract could only be used in the presence of technical, productive, organizational and / or replacement reasons.

With the Jobs Act, there is no longer the obligation for the company to indicate the reason for entering into a fixed-term contract.

Following the amendments to the Dignity Decree , however, the obligation was introduced to indicate a specific need only for the purpose of exceeding the duration of the contract , thus being able to bring the contract from 12 months to a maximum of 24 months or in case of renewal.