The National Institute of Labour has issued a new notice on the subject
What is an assisted term contract? An assisted term contract is an additional fixed-term contract (of a maximum duration of 12 months) that can be stipulated before the ITL, pursuant to article 19, paragraph 3, of Legislative Decree no. 81 / 201.5, once the maximum limit established by law (24 months) or collective bargaining (which may have a longer duration) for fixed-term employment relationships has been reached.
It is possible to enter into only one assisted term contract. If stipulated for less than 12 months, the contract cannot be extended or renewed. Should it continue after the established deadline, the fixed-term employment relationship would be transformed into an indefinite term starting from the date of stipulation.
The same consequence is provided for the case of failure to comply with the procedure, which must therefore be scrupulously followed.
The INL notice. The National Institute of Labour, with its notice no. 8120 of 17 September 2019, explained the type of control that the Inspectorate official should make on the motivation given by the employer to enter into the additional fixed-term contract. The official, in verifying the existence of the mutual will of the parties to enter into the contract in question, cannot enter into the merits of the motivation set forth in the contract, but must limit themselves to verifying the completeness and formal correctness of the content of the contract.
The official in charge must therefore verify: a) that a previous assisted term contract has not existed between the parties; b) that the 10-day time frame (20 in the case of a contract exceeding six months) has been respected between the end of the previous fixed-term relationship and the beginning of the new assisted-term contract; c) that the maximum duration of the contract stipulated does not exceed 12 months; d) the presence of one of the permitted causes: existence of temporary and objective needs, extraneous to the ordinary working activity; need for replacement of other workers; or the existence of temporary, significant and non-programmable increases in the usual work activity. (LC)
