ITALIAN EMPLOYMENT LAW.
PERSONALLY HANDLED.
Italian employment law support for international businesses and foreign law firms operating in Italy. Direct, practical advice — handled personally from start to finish.
SERVICES
Employer-side advice throughout the employment relationship
Entering Italy and hiring employees
A first hire in Italy is not only a contract exercise. The employer must choose the right structure, identify the applicable national collective bargaining agreement, classify the employee correctly and coordinate the arrangement with payroll, social security, health and safety and mandatory registrations. I assist with first-hire assessments, employment contracts, probationary clauses, fixed-term arrangements, job descriptions, executive appointments, incentive provisions and onboarding. I also help the client think ahead: for example, whether a new country manager will hold strategic information or client relationships that should be protected from the outset.
Flexible and cross-border working models
A consultancy agreement does not make someone self-employed if the day-to-day relationship looks like employment. Fixed hours, detailed managerial control, integration into the organisation and economic dependence can lead to reclassification and related contribution or labour-supply exposure. I advise on employee-versus-contractor choices, freelance and consultancy agreements, co.co.co. arrangements, agency work and staff leasing, secondments, intra-group assignments and remote work from Italy. The analysis covers both the contract and how managers should operate the relationship in practice.
Protecting business interests
International confidentiality, non-solicitation and non-compete clauses often need careful localisation before they can be relied upon in Italy. I draft and review restrictive covenants, NDAs, know-how protections and post-termination obligations, with attention to enforceability as well as commercial purpose. I also localise workplace rules on IT systems, email, company devices, remote working and the use or return of business information. The objective is a document the employer can apply consistently and, if necessary, rely on in a disciplinary process or dispute.
Managing employees, performance and misconduct
A genuine concern can be undermined by a vague allegation, missing evidence or a procedural error. Before disciplinary action, I help reconstruct what happened, identify the rule allegedly breached and assess what can lawfully be proved. My work includes disciplinary charges and sanctions, poor-performance management, workplace investigations, misuse of company information or equipment and breaches of internal policies. I also advise on matters involving whistleblowing, discrimination, retaliation, harassment and workplace dignity, where the wider context may be as important as the immediate allegation.
Dismissals, settlements and litigation
I advise on disciplinary and objective dismissals, poor-performance terminations, probationary exits, executive departures and negotiated separations. The work normally begins before the dismissal letter: with the legal ground, evidence, procedure, timing, likely remedies and commercial value of settlement considered together. Where agreement is preferable, I assist with negotiation, drafting and completion before a protected settlement venue. If proceedings cannot be avoided, I represent employers before the Italian Labour Court and coordinate the Italian case with the referring firm and the client’s wider strategy.
Collective, transactional and outsourcing matters
I advise on trade union relations, company-level bargaining, collective redundancies, workforce reorganisations, business transfers and employment due diligence. I also support M&A and commercial projects where employment liabilities or post-closing workforce measures need to be identified and allocated. In outsourcing and Italian appalto arrangements, the written agreement is only the starting point. I examine who actually organises the service, directs the personnel and bears the business risk, with particular attention to contractor autonomy, joint liability and unlawful labour-supply exposure.
FOR FOREIGN LAW FIRMS
An Italian employment lawyer who works with your firm
I support foreign law firms when a client has employees, contractors or workforce issues in Italy. The instruction may be a first Italian hire, a question about a remote worker, the localisation of a policy, a sensitive dismissal or a dispute already moving towards court. My role is to make the Italian part manageable: identify what the client can realistically do, explain the risks in terms that foreign counsel can use, prepare the documents and help implement the chosen course.
Behind-the-scenes support
I can work behind the scenes while your firm retains control of the client relationship and the overall advice. This may involve a short assessment, a legal memorandum, comments on an international contract or policy, a risk analysis, Italian-language drafting or input for a multi-jurisdictional project. The work can be adapted to your house style and delivered in a form that can be used directly in your client advice. Your client relationship remains yours.
Direct client support
Where it is more efficient, I can speak directly with management, HR or in-house counsel, with the referring firm kept informed and involved at the level it prefers. I can gather the facts, explain the Italian requirements and turn the legal analysis into practical next steps. There is no commercial team or internal chain between the enquiry and the legal work. You and your client deal with me.
Local counsel, settlements and litigation
I act as Italian local counsel in employment disputes and proceedings before the Labour Court, the Labour Inspectorate, trade unions and protected settlement venues. I can assess the evidence, prepare local documents, conduct negotiations and manage the Italian procedure, while reporting to foreign counsel in clear English. My litigation work also shapes my day-to-day advice. Before an employer acts, I look at how the facts, process and documents would stand up if the decision were challenged.
A relationship that can start small
The first instruction need not be a major project. It may be a preliminary question, a contract review or a call about an unexpected Italian issue. The aim is to become a reliable Italian employment contact whom your firm can call when needed, without having to restart the search for local counsel under time pressure.
HOW IT WORKS
Straightforward advice, direct contact and clear next steps
Initial enquiry and conflict check
Send a brief description of the matter, the parties, any deadline and the result you hope to achieve. Before confidential documents are shared, I will request the names required for a conflict check.
Preliminary assessment
Once cleared, I review the essential facts, identify the main Italian employment issues and determine what is needed next. Depending on the matter, this may be a focused call or short written view, or a review of contracts, payroll records, company policies or other relevant evidence.
Scope, timing and fees
Before substantive work begins, I agree the deliverables, timing and fee basis. Depending on the matter, this may be hourly, fixed, capped or tailored to a defined project. The aim is to keep the scope clear and the engagement proportionate.
Advice, documents and implementation
I provide advice in professional English and prepare the Italian documents required for local use. Depending on the matter, this may range from a concise assessment or document to more detailed analysis and staged implementation.
ABOUT MICHELE SACCHI
Italian employment law, with an international perspective
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
I am an Italian lawyer focused on employment law, labour law and industrial relations. Since 2016, I have run my own practice, advising employers throughout the employment relationship — from hiring and contractual structures to workforce management, dismissals, settlements and litigation.
My approach is practical and litigation-aware. I look not only at whether a course of action is legally available, but whether it can be implemented properly and defended if challenged.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
JOBLAW.IT reflects the way I prefer to work. The lawyer who answers the enquiry is the lawyer who handles the matter: understanding the objective, choosing the route, drafting the documents and seeing the matter through. For foreign counsel, this provides continuity and accountability. It also makes focused instructions viable: a short but important question does not need to pass through the machinery of a large institution.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
UK & INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND
Cardiff University
Clifford Chance, Milan
WORKING IN ENGLISH
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency
Advice and drafting in professional English
CONTACT
Speak directly with Michele Sacchi
Foreign law firms may contact me to introduce their practice, discuss an active Italian matter or request a preliminary assessment. Every enquiry comes directly to me.
INTRODUCE YOUR FIRM
You do not need an active matter to make contact. A short introduction to your practice, client base and the Italian employment issues you are most likely to encounter is welcome. Establishing the relationship in advance is often useful when an urgent instruction later arises.
BEFORE SENDING DOCUMENTS
Please provide the names of the employer, employee and other relevant parties first, so that availability and conflicts can be checked. Please do not send confidential or sensitive documents until clearance has been confirmed.
OFFICE
Via Gian Domenico Romagnosi, 54
43036 Fidenza (PR) - Italy
T. +39 0521 1522375