Fraudulent supply of labour and its impact on models 231 (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 133 – Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

With the law 96/18 the offence of fraudulent supply of labour has been introduced. This offence is committed when there is a supply activity carried out with the specific purpose of circumventing mandatory rules of law or collective agreement applied to employees. The offence in question is punished with a fine of €20 for each employee involved and for each day of supply. On this point, the National Labour Inspectorate (“NLI”), with circular no. 3/19, provided operational guidance to the inspectors. In particular, according to the NLI, the use of an illegal contract is in itself a symptomatic element of a fraudulent purpose. Again according to the NLI, the offence in question may be completed in other situations, such as, for example, the hypothesis of non-authentic transactional detachment pursuant to Article 3 of the Legislative Decree 136/16. In the light of the above, it will be necessary to construct or update Model 231 so as to prevent this crime from being committed, through the implementation of specific prevention procedures and protocols. This is because any investigations by the inspectors could be followed by possible investigations by the judicial authority. The “unlawful intermediation and exploitation of labour” pursuant to Article 603-bis of the Italian Criminal Code is, in fact, a predicate offence of the administrative liability of entities (Article 25-quinques of Legislative Decree No. 231/01).