LEGISLATIVE UPDATE | Decree-Law no. 48/2023 conversion process
Throughout June 2023, Parliament examined Decree-Law no. 48/2023 ahead of its conversion by means of Law no. 85 of 3 July 2023. The package was the principal employment-law measure of the period and was already producing practical questions for employers.
The decree revised the grounds supporting fixed-term employment beyond the initial causale-free period, simplified aspects of the information duties introduced in 2022 and created employment and welfare measures. Because an urgent decree has immediate force but may be amended during conversion, the legal position remained mobile.
International HR teams often receive an initial summary when a decree is published and then build a template around it. In Italy, that is not enough. A contract signed during the sixty-day conversion period may require a later check against the final statute, particularly where Parliament changes definitions or transitional provisions.
Employers should record the version of the law used for each template, nominate an owner for conversion monitoring and re-check fixed-term clauses, onboarding information and incentive assumptions after the final vote. Legislative speed should not become documentary inconsistency.