Information about the follow-up to the multiple complaint registered under reference CPLT(2022)03325 update: 01 August 2025

Notice in English (can be automatically translated)

The European Commission refers to a series of complaints it has received concerning the lack of effective measures to prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term contracts in Italy and lack of penalties in cases of abuse.      

The employees and employment relationships concerned are: 

• staff employed in the Italian operatic and orchestral foundations;
• fixed-term contracts concluded with teachers and administrative and technical auxiliary staff ('ATA staff') in order to fill temporary vacancies;
• fixed-term contracts concluded with healthcare staff, including managers, in the National Health Service;
• fixed term contracts concluded with workers in the higher art, music and dance education ('AFAM') for which the overseeing authority is the Ministero dell'Istruzione Università e Ricerca ('MIUR'), the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research;
• fixed-term contracts concluded with staff in public research institutions;
• employment relationships between agricultural employers and fixed-term workers as defined by Article 12, subparagraph 2 of Legislative Decree No 375 of 11 August 1993, in particular forestry workers;
• discontinuous voluntary firefighters who are called up by the national fire brigade. 

Some of these workers also complained about less favourable working conditions compared to permanent workers, in particular as regards the recognition of services provided under fixed-term contracts.

The Commission examined the relevant Italian law and concluded that it was not in compliance with clause 4 and clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work annexed to Directive 1999/70/EC[1]. Therefore, it decided to open infringement procedure (INFR(2014)4231)[2] with the sending of a letter of formal notice on 17 July 2019. An additional letter of formal notice was issued on 3 December 2020.

On 19 April 2023 the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Italy, as the explanations provided by Italy in its replies to the letters of formal notice sent on 17 July 2019 and 3 December 2020 were not satisfactory. Italy has sent several replies to the reasoned opinion, most recently on 17 February 2025. As explained in the previous update of 4 March 2025, the Commission has referred Italy to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to lay down effective measures to prevent misuse of successive fixed-term employment contracts or relationships with ATA school staff. Moreover, regarding the issue that Italian law does not guarantee that fixed-term schoolteachers are entitled, like tenured teachers, to salary progression based on the completion of periods of service, the Commission decided on 12 February 2025 to send a letter of formal notice to Italy under a new case reference (INFR(2024)2277). The Commission is currently assessing Italy’s written reply with a view to deciding on possible further procedural steps regarding this issue. 

This update serves to confirm the Commission’s assessment regarding several issues under INFR(2014)4231, as set out in the previous update of 4 March 2025, and to provide additional information to complainants with respect to the issues concerning discontinuous volunteer firefighters.

Firstly, given the absence of a response from complainants within the time limit of 4 weeks, the Commission confirms its intention not to further pursue the issues that it considers to be addressed, as listed in the previous update of 4 March 2025:

• The amended provisions of Article 36(5) of Legislative Decree No 165/2001 satisfy the requirement under Union law to lay down effective measures to sanction and penalise abuse of successive fixed-term contracts. The Commission therefore considers that there are no grounds for taking further procedural steps on the issues raised in that respect under INFR(2014)4231 with respect to the following sectors: (i) fixed-term teachers and ATA staff at schools, (ii) staff in the healthcare sector, (iii) staff of AFAM institutions, (iv) staff of operatic and orchestral foundations, (v) staff in public research institution, and (vi) workers in the forestry sector.
• The amended provisions of Article 28(2) of Legislative Decree No 81/2015 address the lack of full compensation for damage / loss of opportunity in the case of abuse of fixed-term contracts in the private sector, by enabling workers to claim full compensation.
• By laying down limits on the overall duration and the number of renewals of fixed-term employment relationships of ATA staff at AFAM institutions, Presidential Decree No. 83 of 24 April 2024 provides for measures to prevent misuse in that context, in accordance with the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work.
• In the absence of evidence that the non-applicability of limits on the use of fixed-term contracts for seasonal activities leads to a misuse of successive fixed-term contracts in practice, the Commission considers that there are no sufficient grounds for taking further procedural steps regarding seasonal staff employed by operatic and orchestral foundations.
• In the same vein, the Commission considers that no misuse of successive fixed-term employment relationships has been established with respect to the recruitment of seasonal fixed-term workers at agricultural and forestry holdings. As such recruitments are limited to specific months each year, they cannot be qualified as “successive” within the meaning of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work is.

Secondly, regarding discontinuous volunteer firefighters, the Italian authorities have informed the Commission that the practice of call-ups of these workers has ceased definitively. The tasks previously assigned to these workers will be discharged by permanent firefighters who have been newly recruited for that purpose. The Commission therefore notes that the issues of less favourable treatment of discontinuous volunteer firefighters and of misuse of successive fixed-term employment relationships with these workers have been eliminated. Consequently, the complainants concerned are informed, by means of this notice, that the Commission intends not to further pursue these issues. Should these complainants have any new information that might be relevant for the re-assessment of their case, they are invited to contact the Commission within four weeks of this notice, after which the assessment will be confirmed, and the complainants will be informed of the closure of their complaints. Any information that is received from complainants after the expiry of this deadline and that does not change the assessment will not be answered.

The Commission recalls that, as explained in the previous update of 4 March 2025, it has not yet completed the assessment for the following issues raised under INFR(2014)4231:

• Concerning the lack of measures to prevent the abusive use of successive fixed-term teaching contracts in the school sector, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union requires an assessment of whether the national legislation leads, in practice, to misuse of successive fixed-term employment contracts. It is therefore appropriate to further monitor the practical effects of new provisions notified by Italy in reply to the reasoned opinion, before taking a final decision on the next steps regarding this issue.
• Concerning fixed-term workers at public research institutions, doubts remain as to compliance with the principle of non-discrimination of fixed-term workers, notably with respect to the category of ‘assegnisti di ricerca’. The Commission is currently assessing additional information submitted by Italy. It is also monitoring a planned reform of the rules on researchers’ careers as to possible conflicts with the obligation to effectively prevent the misuse of fixed-term employment relationships.

For the reasons set out above, infringement procedures INFR(2014)4231 and INFR(2024)2277 remain open. The decisions and procedural steps taken with respect to certain issues under these procedures do not preclude later procedural steps which the Commission may take regarding other issues that are still being monitored and assessed by the Commission. The Commission will keep the complainants informed through this website^[3] of any further follow-up procedural step it decides to take in these cases.

[1] Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43

[2] Infringements 

[3] Decisions and other notices on multiple complaints (europa.eu)