{"id":1769,"date":"2026-03-26T15:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/?p=1769"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:04:34","slug":"the-coexistence-of-part-time-employment-relationships-and-self-employment-works-the-latest-joint-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/2026\/03\/26\/the-coexistence-of-part-time-employment-relationships-and-self-employment-works-the-latest-joint-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"The coexistence of part time employment relationships and self-employment works: the latest \u201cjoint\u201d contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The so-called \u201cjoint\u201d contract was recently revised by Law No. 203\/2024 (\u201c<\/em>Collegato Lavoro\u201d, in Italian), allowing the same individual to hold both a part-time permanent employment relationship and a contract for self-employment with a single employer, provided that the employer has at least 250 employees and that the two activities are clearly and documentarily separate from one another.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 17 of the so-called \u201cCollegato Lavoro\u201d (Law No. 203\/2024) has restructured and redefined the parameters of \u201cjoint\u201d contracts, which allow the same individuals, in their capacity as employer and employee, to hold at the same time two distinct working relationships: one as a part time<\/em> employment relationship and the other under the regulation for self-employed work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the relevant legislation, starting January 12th<\/sup>, 2025, companies have to staff more than 250 employees as of January 1st<\/sup> of the reference year for the new hire, to execute joint contracts. To these purposes, the following categories of employees are included in the calculation: full-time employees (executives and teleworkers as well), part-time<\/em> hires on a pro-rata <\/em>basis, fixed-term and intermittent contracts (which are computed, respectively, based on the actual duration of the employment relationship and the hours worked in the six-month prior the reference period). Apprentices and temporary agency workers are excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the requirements applicable to the involved worker, section 17 of the Collegato Lavoro <\/em>prescribes that the latter must be a natural person registered in dedicated directories or professional registers who engage in freelance professional activities, including those related to agency and commercial representation relationships. However, the provision itself specifies (para. 2) that the parties may derogate this regulation though proximity agreements which shall set forth the new terms and conditions in accordance with the relevant regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practical terms, among other things, the reference regulation has established strict limits for the subordinate employment component of joint contracts: an open term relationship, part-time with working hours ranging from 40% to 50% of the full-time schedule set forth in the applicable national collective bargaining agreement. These restrictions aim to ascertain that the worker has the necessary time for self-employment activities, avoiding overlaps that would compromise the distinction between the two types of performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure the separation of the two working roles, the Collegato Lavoro requires that a joint contracts shall be certified by one of the authorized venues set forth in section 76 of the Italian Legislative Decree No. 276\/2003, in addition to other organizational measures such as the worker having to designate (within the self-employed contract) a distinct business address that the employer\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, joint contracts represent, on the one hand, an attempt to combine flexibility and protection for workers, allowing them a greater scope of activity compared to the rigidity of the subordinate pattern typical of an employment relationship, and potentially resulting in greater profits for the company involved. On the other hand, however, this system imposes \u2013 rightly so, given the sensitivity of such a topic \u2013 strict rules and limits on its application, which must be correctly implemented (by companies, especially), given the severity of the potential penalties that may follow. For example, a violation of rest period regulations, as well as a potential claims for the establishment of a full-time<\/em> employment relationship and the payment of the corresponding contributions should the self-employment relationship prove to be merged with the employment relationship without a clear separation (as required by law).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The so-called \u201cjoint\u201d contract was recently revised by Law No. 203\/2024 (\u201cCollegato Lavoro\u201d, in Italian), allowing the same individual to hold both a part-time permanent employment relationship and a contract for self-employment with a single employer, provided that the employer has at least 250 employees and that the two activities are clearly and documentarily separate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[169,171],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-service-agreement","tag-employment-relationship","tag-self-employment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}