Ministerial Clarifications on the Provisions of the “Collegato Lavoro” Law
News No. 12/2025
We hereby wish to draw your attention to the recent Circular No. News issued by the Ministry of Labor, which provides guidance on the main measures implemented by the legislature through Law No. 203 of December 13, 2024 (the so-called “Labor Annex”).
In particular, the document focuses on the latest developments regarding resignation by conduct, temporary employment, seasonal work, probationary periods, and communications regarding remote work.
Regulations Governing the Termination of Employment
Article 19 of Law No. 203 of December 13, 2024, amended Article 26 of Legislative Decree No. 151/2015 by introducing paragraph 7-bis, which provides that an employer may, in the event of an employee’s unjustified absence extending beyond the time limit set forth in the company’s applicable National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) or, in the absence of such a provision, where the absence exceeds fifteen days, to initiate the procedure known as “resignation by conduct,” by submitting a notice to the competent local office of the National Labor Inspectorate. We have attached a sample notice. The notice must be sent both to the Inspectorate and to the employee, in order to allow the employee to exercise the right to a defense provided for in Article 24 of the Constitution.
In this regard, it is specified, however, that following an inspection, the employer may be held liable—including criminally—for providing false information to the local labor inspectorate.
It is important to emphasize that several collective bargaining agreements provide for disciplinary consequences in the event of prolonged unauthorized absence, allowing the employer to proceed with termination for just cause or for justified subjective grounds. In such cases, the safeguard procedure provided for in Article 7 of the Workers’ Statute (Law No. 330/70) is therefore triggered. Therefore, if the contractual provision regarding unjustified absence requires a prior disciplinary notice, the procedure set forth in the National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) must be followed, rather than the procedure for “resignation based on conclusive facts.”
The ministerial “ News ” also provides further clarification regarding the electronic termination procedure initiated by the employer following “resignation by conduct,” establishing that such a procedure is rendered ineffective if the employee has previously submitted an electronic resignation.
Therefore, to initiate the “resignation by implication” procedure, the employer must first verify whether the National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) applicable to the company contains provisions regarding an employee’s unjustified absences—and, if so, what those provisions are. Thereafter, once a minimum absence period of 15 days has elapsed—or a longer period, if provided for by the applicable company-level collective bargaining agreement—the employer will submit the request via certified email (PEC) to the competent local labor inspectorate, which will conduct all necessary verifications; the employer will also send a copy to the employee to inform them of the initiated procedure. The termination of employment will take effect as of the date indicated on the UNILAV form (which will be sent within 5 days of the Labor Inspectorate’s confirmation of receipt of the notice), provided that the employer is not required to pay wages or the related social security contributions for the period of unexcused absence.
However, if the employee can prove that he or she was unable to communicate the reasons for the absence (for example, because he or she was hospitalized or due to force majeure), the termination of the employment relationship will be deemed null and void. The same condition will apply if the Labor Inspectorate determines that the employer’s notification was untrue.
The provisions in question do not apply in cases of termination by mutual agreement or resignation submitted by a female employee during pregnancy, or by either a female or male employee during the first three years of the child’s life, or in other specific cases as further outlined in Article 55 of Legislative Decree No. 151/2001.
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