In Italy, the regulation of public placement has undergone extensive modifications during the past few years. A new placement organisation was defined by Law 56 of 26.2.1987 (regulations concerning the organisation of the labour market), while Art. 25 of Law 223 of 23.7.1991 extensively reformed recruitment methods, while extending the possibility of recruitment by name-call to all employers (including those in the areas of agriculture and show business). Other important regulations were introduced in Law 236/93, including the establishment of two funds for employment policy (the Employment Fund and the Development Fund) and vocational training measures - including practical training, new regulations concerning the Wage Compensation Fund and mass dismissal, seasonal workers, etc.; in Law 451/94 (regulations on work of benefit to society, employment and training contracts, vocational and preparatory practical training, voca-tional integration schemes, etc.); and in Law 608/96 on socially useful work, income-protection schemes and the welfare sector.
A certain percentage of recruitments is nevertheless reserved for those particularly at a disad-vantage on the labour market.
The new measures aim at easing the constraints on private employers, and establish a new role for the employment services as tools of active manpower policy.
They also recognise the diversification of regional labour markets by extending the tasks and responsibilities of the regional employment commissions.
The fundamental principles of placement remain nevertheless the following:
- the public nature of placement carried out by the Ministry of Labour through its local offices, except for certain categories of workers (workers in port services, seamen and airmen);
- private placement services are not permitted, even if they are free of charge;
- as of recently, employers are obliged by virtue of Art. 9 et seq. of Law 608/96 to report recruit-ments to the local (district) office within 5 days. The notification must name the new employee, the date of recruitment, the relevant collective agreement, the occupational category, the remu-neration and the relevant legislation.
Compulsory placement remains excluded from the new provisions as does recruitment by name in cases where prior approval is still required as a special measure, for instance in the case of immigrant workers form outside the EU.
2.5.1.1. Registration on placement lists
All jobseekers have to be registered on placement lists provided they have an employment record card (libretto di lavoro).
Workers from EU countries are equal in all respects to Italian workers; they have every right to register with Italian placement services in order to seek employment.
Nationals of non-EU countries who have worked in Italy can also register with the placement offices, provided they have a residence permit enabling them to seek work or an equivalent document provided for under international agreements.
The worker must register with the competent employment office in his/her place of residence. The registration can be transferred to another local office - subject to cancellation of the previous registration - without the person concerned having changed residence. The length of time the worker has already been registered on the lists is taken into account. Workers on the placement lists are divided into three categories as follows:
1. a) Workers who are unemployed or who are seeking their first job or who are employed part time with a working week not exceeding 20 hours and who would like to have a different job, and workers employed under a fixed-term contract, the total duration of which does not exceed four months per calendar year;
b) "Mobility lists": workers in the Wage Compensation Fund or registered on the placement lists for a prolonged period (more than 24 months).
2. Employed workers, not included in the first category, who are seeking different employment.
3. Those receiving old-age or service-related pensions.
Within these three categories, workers are grouped according to sector of activity, occupational category, qualifications and specialisations. Qualifications are recognised on the basis of cer-tificates produced by the worker or evaluated by a special commission.
Jobseekers are also divided into certain special lists which provide for certain advantages as regards recruitment or specific leads (for example in the public administration).
In particular the following have been set up:
- list of redundant workers, which includes those who are beneficiaries of the extra-ordinary Wage Compensation Fund, whose companies declare themselves unable to guarantee re-recruitment (Art. 4, Law 223/91), and workers laid off because of cutbacks in manpower (Art. 24, Law 223/91). This list offers specific facilities for vocational reintegration and permits the worker to receive redundancy allowance;
- "mobility list" for workers in the Wage Compensation Fund or registered on the placement lists for a prolonged period (Art. 8, Law 407/90). Provision is also made for facilitating vocational re-integration;
- a special list for workers who wish to be recruited into the lower ranks of the public adminis-tra-tion (Art. 16, Law 56/87).
2.5.1.2. Name-call applications for recruitment
Employers who wish to recruit workers must submit an application to the local (district) employment office competent in their particular geographical area, specifying the collective agreement which applies (or indicating the actual or legal remuneration).
Since Law 223/91 came into effect, the possibility of name-call applications has been extended to all recruitments by any private employer; he/she may therefore indicate the name of the person he/she wishes to hire.
Recruitment continues to be subject to the authorisation (nulla osta) of the local employment office.
2.5.1.3. Restrictions on name-call recruitment
An employer who employs more than 10 people must reserve a percentage of 12% of positions to be filled for disadvantaged categories on the labour market. This percentage may reach 20% in certain cases and in certain regions. This concerns in particular:
- workers registered for over 2 years in category I of the placement lists and not registered for at least 3 years in lists or tables of tradesmen, craftsmen, operating owners and the liberal pro-fessions;
- workers registered on "mobility lists";
- workers who belong to disadvantaged categories determined by the regional employment commission.
The possibility of recruitment by name-call also exists for these categories.
2.5.1.4. Employment by numeric application
Employment by numeric application can still take place at the explicit request of the employer. In such cases, decisions are based on the list of priorities established according to the following criteria: family dependants, period of registration with placement agency, family income, etc.
Pilot experiments are currently being carried out aimed at extensively reforming the role of employ-ment services and allowing a pre-selection of personnel to be employed at the request of the employer him/herself.
2.5.1.5. Employment: approval procedure
As soon as the name-call application for personnel submitted by the employer is received, the local (district) employment office must employ the persons requested, by means of an "employment form" which the company must keep for the entire duration of the employment contract in order to prove that the recruitment took place according to the rules.
On the other hand, in the case of a numeric application, the local employment office proceeds according to a list of priorities. The "employment form" is still necessary, however.
2.5.1.6. Removal from the lists
The worker who, without legitimate reason, does not comply with the obligation to notify the local employment office monthly, or at intervals determined by the regional commission, that he/she continues to be unemployed will be removed from the lists and will lose his/her entitlement to unemployment benefit. The same rule applies to the worker who, on two occasions and without legitimate reason, refuses to accept permanent employment corresponding to his/her qualifications or if he/she does not answer a summons to report.
The removal from the register can be revoked if the worker can prove that a serious obstacle prevented him/her from complying with his/her obligation to report.
2.5.1.7. Direct recruitment
The employer can hire workers directly for employment without submitting an application to the local employment office if these workers belong to one of the following categories:
- managerial staff;
- specialised intellectual staff who have been hired following a public entrance examination;
- workers who work exclusively on the basis of a partnership;
- household helps registered with professional agencies and all those performing services within a family;
- workers in firms not employing more than three people.
The placement office has to be informed by the employer of the names of the persons recruited under the first three categories.
The direct and immediate transfer of a worker from one company to another is also permitted but requires the authorisation (nulla osta) of the competent placement office.
The employer can also hire manpower directly in cases where such hiring is justified by an urgent need to avoid damage to persons or to premises.
In these urgent cases employers have to submit name-call applications to the placement office which can provisionally authorise the recruitment. The placement commission has to sanction the recruitment within a period of ten days.
2.5.1.8. System of sanctions
Anyone carrying out a placement function in violation of the regulations in force is punished by a fine; if the placement is done for profit, the punishment will be imprisonment and the fine can be tripled. Employers who recruit without the intervention of the placement offices will be liable to the payment of an administrative sanction.
Any employment contract entered into without observing the regulations governing labour supply and demand can be rendered null and void.
Any appeals against decisions of the placement office have to be submitted to the provincial placement commission and, in some cases, to the director of the provincial placement office.
It is possible to appeal against the decisions of the provincial commission to the Minister of Labour through the official channels.
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