Italy

The most common type of employment contract under Italian employment law is the full-time open ended employment contract. Until the mid-1980s, the law has considered different kinds of contract, such as part-time and fixed term, as contracts to be highly restricted. After the mid-1980s, it began to get easier to stipulate fixed terms contracts; part-time contracts are now fully ruled by law; temporary work is no longer prohibited. However, it must be emphasized that the stipulation of these kinds of contracts requires many formalities to be fully respected; in fact, it is possible for judges to declare a contract invalid and to substitute it with an indefinite contract. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that these "atypical" employees are entitled to the same rights as those provided for the full-time employees with an open-ended contract. A brief overview on a particular aspect of Italian employment such as the atypical forms of employment contracts is presented.