National Collective Labour Agreement for the Trade Sector

New grounds for employment under a fixed-term contract

Amendments to the National Collective Labour Agreement for the Trade Sector (“CCNL”) came into force on April 1st, 2024.

In particular, the CCNL has introduced, in Article 71-bis, different grounds that employers must specify where they seek to enforce a fixed-term employment contract where the duration (or the total duration) exceeds 12 months. Generally, in Italy, it is not possible to have a fixed term contract of longer than 12 months (and in any case no longer than 24 months) unless at least one of the following conditions is met:

(a) in cases provided for by collective agreements set out under Article 51 of Legislative Decree no. 81/2015 (the “Decree”);

(b) in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement referred to in point (a), and in any event only until 31 December 2024, for technical, organisational or production requirements identified by the parties; or

(c) to replace other absent employees.

The CCNL contains a number of grounds which may apply, which are divided into the following nine categories:

• Sales: workers employed during periods of sales related to end-of-season sales, both winter and summer, according to specific regional regulations.
• Trade fairs: workers employed during the periods covered by trade fairs, as defined in the national and international trade fair calendar, between the seven days before and the seven days after the trade fair.
• Christmas holidays: workers employed during the Christmas holiday period between 15 November and 15 January.
• Easter holidays: workers employed during the Easter holiday period between fifteen days before and fifteen days after Easter.
• Reducing environmental impact: Employees with specific skills who are directly involved in organisational and/or production processes in order to reduce the environmental impact of these processes.
• Advanced trade sector: workers employed with specific skills to design, implement, service and sell innovative products, including digital products, in the advanced trade sector.
• Digitalisation: Employees with specific skills for the development of digital products.
• New openings: workers hired for the opening of new production units/businesses and for restructuring, during a maximum period of 24 months from the date of the new opening of the production unit/business, or during a maximum period of 24 months in the restructuring phase of production units/businesses intended for the expansion of the sales area or the opening of new departments. In this case, as provided for in Article 23, paragraph 2, of the Decree, only employment relationships established in the first 12 months following the new opening are excluded from the percentage limits on the use of fixed-term contracts as set out in the Decree and/or the CCNL (which sets out in general that the number of employees employed under fixed term contracts cannot exceed 20% of the number of workers employed under permanent contracts) . For the start-up phase of new activities, art. 76 of the CCNL applies.
• Temporary increase: workers hired for temporary projects or assignments lasting more than 12 months or extended beyond 12 consecutive months, for a maximum duration of 24 months.

The applicable reason must be set out in the fixed-term employment contract for more than 12 months, as well as in any letters of extension and renew which extend the duration of the fixed-term employment relationship beyond 12 months. In other words, it will not be sufficient to copy what is laid down in the CCNL, but it will be necessary to indicate the specific reason that falls under one of the above-mentioned categories.

The same provisions apply to fixed-term supply contracts and the reasons justifying the duration that company-users will have to communicate to employment agencies.

This is of course without prejudice to the existing reason which allows for the 'replacement of other workers', provided that the conditions are met.

Our team remains at your disposal to provide any assistance and information you may require.

NRF Employment Team