The “2023 Employment Decree” (Decree-Law No. 48 of 4 May 2023, converted, with amendments, into Law No. 85 of July 3rd, 2023) introduced new social and employment inclusion measures, establishing, inter alia, the Inclusion Allowance and Support for Training and Employment and numerous initiatives for companies.
The most significant of these include:
- simplification of information on employment conditions required from the employer at the time of hiring, enabling reference to applicable legislation and collective bargaining applied for most information not affected by the specific nature of the individual employment relationship (Art. 26);
- simplification of the use of fixed-term contracts, with rationalisation of the requirements for entering into contracts between 12 and 24 months and for extending or renewing contracts that extend the term beyond 12 months (Art. 24);
- incentives for the use of permanent employment agency contracts, including an exemption from quantitative limits for workers under agency contracts hired through apprenticeship contracts, and an exemption from quantitative limits of permanent agency contracts for workers formerly subject to redundancy schemes, unemployed persons with at least six months of non-agricultural unemployment benefits or redundancy scheme benefits and disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged workers (Art. 24);
- extension to 2024 of expansion contracts signed by companies and groups with more than 1,000 workers; where redundancies have not been completed, they can be concluded within 12 months of the original term of the agreement, in a ministerial setting, to provide incentives for generational transfer (Art. 25);
- early retirement of journalists employed by publishing industry companies, with authorisation of an expenditure of €1.2 million for 2023, €4 million for each year from 2024 to 2027 and €2.8 million for 2028 (Art. 25-bis);
- forgiveness of back contributions of individuals enrolled in social-security programmes for artisans, merchants, self-employed farm workers, contractors and professionals enrolled in the INPS separate management programme, for which back contributions have been cancelled in payment notices of up to €1,000 (Art. 23-bis);
- incentives for employment, in particular for the hiring of recipients of the Inclusion Allowance (Art. 10), for youth employment, in particular, for a) those under 30, b) NEET and c) young people enrolled in the National Operational Youth Employment Initiative Programme (Art. 27) and for the employment of the disabled (Art. 28);
- incentives for the use of occasional services in the tourism and spa sector, in particular, the limit for each user (considering all workers) increases from €10,000 to €15,000 a year and may be used by employers (users) that employ up to 25 permanent employees (and not ten as for other sectors) (Art. 37);
- increase in the fund for new skills thanks to national funds (National Youth, Women and Employment Programme) and European funds (ESF+ and Complementary Operating Programme for Active Employment Policy Systems) to finance trade union agreements signed with effect from 2023 and foster the updating of the professional skills of workers in relation to the digital and ecological transition (Art. 19);
- partial exemption from contributions borne by workers ("tax wedge"), with a reduction of the contribution rate for employees who earn up to €35,000 a year gross, set at six percentage points (whereas the 2023 budget law set it at 2%) for pay periods from July to December 2023, without any incidence on the accrual of the 13th-month payment. An additional point of reduction remains applicable for those who earn up to €25,000 (which thus becomes 7% from July to December 2023 (Art. 39);
- tax exemption for overtime and night work on holidays for the tourism and spa sector, for the period from June 1st, 2023 to September 21st, 2023, for workers in the tourism sector, including spa facilities, who earn employment income not exceeding €40,000 in the tax period 2022. It is a special additional benefit, not counted as income, equal to 15% of the gross remuneration paid in respect of night work and overtime on holidays (Art. 39-bis);
- tax exemption for welfare measures, allowing increases of up to €3,000 (from the current €258.23 per year) of the fringe benefit threshold. This applies solely for employees with dependant children and is limited to the year 2023. The exemption threshold for workers who are parents may also be used for reimbursement of domestic utilities (water, electricity and natural gas) (Art. 40).