Insights

Should the fixed term employment contract be null and void, the employee is not entitled to obtain the conversion into an open ended employment contract because the nullity of the provision which sets the duration carries away the entire contract.

The Ministry of Labor, with the answer to the question no. 40/2011 of October 26 proposed byConfcommercio and Confartigianato, specified that the work apprenticeship disciplined by art. 4 of the Legislative Decree no. 167/2011 (which came into force on October 25) may be set up for a maximum of 5 years period not only by handicraft companies but also by company of every other sector for technical-professionale activities, also when different National Collective Labor Agreement are applied to the employees.

The law of stability comes to Senate with a new endowment of 835 million Eur in order to fund, for the fourth year of legislature, the tax reduction applicable to the part of salary related to the productivity.

INPS, with note no. 19772/2011, clarified that in the calculation and payment of the days of maternity leave public holidays, Sundays and Saturdays (in the case of short week) falling during holidays, illness or other absences have not to be considered.

On October 10th, 2011, the Legislative Decree No. 167/2011 (“Consolidated act of apprenticeship”), after more than two months from the approval by the Council of Ministers, was published into the Official Gazette.

The Law on the apprenticeship (Legislative Decree no. 167/11) punishes in administrative way the lack of written form of the apprenticeship contract.

INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), with memorandum No. 6295/2011, specified that the promoter of vocational trainings still has the formal obligation provided for by Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Ministerial Decree No. 142/1998 (enforcing Article 18 of Law No. 196/1997), which provides the obligation to insure trainees against accidents at work at INAIL, as well as for civil liability towards third party at an appropriate insurance company.

Court of Cassation, with order no. 19119/2011, stated that, with reference to the damage, the proof of the amount paid shall be provided through the income tax return or, related to the past profits, the proof by witnesses on the activity performed, pointing out circumstances which could justify the assumption based on which the lack of income is due to extraordinary and temporary conditions.