The fixed-term contract: a flexible contractual formula

The legal regulation introduced in 2015 already confirmed some of the characteristics of this institution (formerly provided for by Legislative Decree No. 368/2001, implementing Directive 1999/70/EC) and presented that fundamental openness towards the unnecessity of a recruitment reason that had already been introduced into the legal system in 2012, by the Fornero Law. While on the one hand this approach gave a sign of greater freedom in the use of this form of contract, which was necessary to respond concretely to the demand for greater flexibility called for by the business world, on the other hand it has in fact created the premises for a progressive tightening, in recent years, related to the introduction of a necessary  employment reason for contracts interesting more than 12 months, also involving contract extension and renewal (always beyond 12 months). Furthermore, this also provided an opportunity to bring back to this matter the key role of collective bargaining (already provided for by Law No. 57/1986), as a privileged instrument for determining in each business sector, the actual, real and concrete ‘temporary' or ‘structurally temporary' needs determining the use of the fixed-term contract.

In Italy, the current regulation is the result of both the adjustments made in 2018 by the Decreto Dignità (Decree No. 87/2018 converted into Law No. 96/2018...