Legislative Decree No. 136/2016 as a panacea for the unlawful triangulations used in cross-border postings of workers

On 22 July 2016 Legislative Decree No. 136 that has redefined cross-border postings has been given final approval. The Legislative Decree implementing Directive 2014/67/EU, addresses all cases of irregular posting, encouraging cooperation between States in determining the authenticity of the same. The regulations apply to companies within the EU that post one or more workers in Italy to another company, including employment agencies and internal mobility within the same company. The powerful mechanism underlying the decree is structured on a set of initiative powers referred to the supervisory bodies. It refers to investigations geared, amongst other things, to verifying: the place where the company has its registered-administrative office and where it is registered; the place where the workers are hired and where they are posted to; the fact that the worker carries out his normal working activity in the State from where he was posted. If the posting is found not to be authentic, the worker will be considered as an employee of the entity which has made use of his service, also imposing considerable financial penalties on the company making the posting and on the one where the worker is posted to. It would seem, then, to be the end of the season where “illicit personnel triangulations” were a valuable mechanism for bypassing the onerous contributory schemes in Italy.