Ministry of Labour: who keeps silent has no right to priority

By replying to questioning No. 7/2016 raised by Confindustria, the Ministry of Labour provides clarification on the right to priority and on contributory exemption. In particular, the Ministry of Labour was requested whether the employer may benefit from the contributory exemption under article 1, paragraph 118, of Law No. 190/2014, for the purposes of hiring for an indefinite term/for the purposes of turning fixed-term employment into indefinite term employment in the event that another employee, having ceased his/her fixed-term employment or with a fixed-term employment contract still in force, has not exercised the right to priority prior to the hiring. The Ministry has clarified that the employee who keeps silent has no right to priority to any hiring for an indefinite term with the employer where he/she has carried out the fixed-term employment and the latter may hire other staff and have recourse to the contributory exemption under Law No. 190/2014. The Ministry has thus taken an important stance in connection with the importance of the right to priority in fixed-term employment contracts, following the provision under article 24 of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015. In short, the Ministry does not consider it a right automatically vested in the employee merely due to the fact of having carried out fixed-term employment, whereby an express written declaration to said extent will be needed.