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Italy — Business: Hiring Employees

What an employer in Italy must do when hiring: send the mandatory online notice (UniLav) to the Ministry of Labour, give the worker written terms within 30 days, and follow the rules for fixed-term contracts. The pages do not give social-security contribution rates, probation lengths or notice periods, which depend on the collective agreement.

VerifiedGovernment / official sourceMinistry of Labour and Social Policies (Italy) – Single Digital Gateway pages on employment contracts and types of jobs; INPS – Mandatory communicationsLast reviewed: 2026-10-27

Key facts

  • Before hiring in the private sector, the employer must submit a mandatory telematic notice (CO) to the Ministry of Labour; the employee receives a copy of it and an individual employment contract.
  • The single notification (UniLav) also covers extension, conversion, secondment, transfer and termination, and can satisfy reporting duties to INPS and INAIL; termination must be notified within 5 days of the end date.
  • Domestic-worker employers notify INPS instead, within 24 hours of the day before employment starts.
  • Employers must give the worker written terms at recruitment or within 30 days of hiring (Legislative Decree 152/1997): parties, place of work, start date, fixed-term or permanent, any probation, job grade, initial pay, paid leave, working time and notice terms.
  • The information duty does not apply to jobs of at most 1 month and 8 hours a week, or where the employer is a spouse or live-in relative within the third degree.
  • A fixed-term contract must state its term and reason; objective reasons are required for terms over 12 months, extensions taking the total over 12 months, and every renewal.
  • A worker must be at least 16 and have completed 10 years of compulsory education; 15-year-olds can be hired only on an apprenticeship contract for a qualification or diploma.
  • The pages give no contribution rates, probation lengths or notice periods; these follow the applicable collective agreement.

Timelines

  • Written terms to the worker: At recruitment or within 30 days of hiring
  • Termination notice (UniLav): Within 5 days of the end date

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