Cleaning and integrated services / Multi-service companies

Art. 4 of the CCNL


Which contracts it applies to

The renewed Art. 4 of the CCNL for Cleaning, Integrated Services and Multi-service Companies applies whenever a service contract comes to an end. There can be various reasons for this, the most common being the expiry of the contract itself, after which the contracting authority awards a new contract to a different company from the previous one.

When the contract ends, the relationship between the contractor and the client ceases, and the incoming contractor could establish new employment relationships on different financial terms and, above all, with staff other than those previously employed.

To protect workers during contract changes, the social partners have set out a procedure that both companies must follow and provided for the retention, where possible, of the workers previously employed.

These rules apply to both the outgoing and the incoming company, regardless of their legal form, including cooperatives.

Communication and information obligations

Specifically, the outgoing company must send advance notice of the contract's termination to the relevant company and local trade union bodies, where possible within the 15 days preceding the termination. This notice must include:

  • the names of the workers who have been employed on the contract for at least 4 months
  • information on the number of workers concerned
  • their respective weekly working hours

The incoming company must give notice of its takeover of the contract as promptly as possible, before the new management begins, in good time and in any case at the request of the local trade unions that signed the CCNL.

In addition to these notices, the outgoing company must provide the incoming company with all the information needed to manage the employment relationships, along with the relevant documentation for each worker who meets the requirements for possible hiring. In particular, this includes:

  • full name and tax code;
  • any residence permit and its expiry date;
  • job grade;
  • weekly working hours ;
  • date of hire in the sector;
  • date of hire at the outgoing company;
  • individual record of sickness and workplace injury absences, for calculating the protected leave period (which the national collective agreement (Ccnl) extends to all employment relationships held in succession within the sector);
  • the list of staff hired under mandatory employment rules pursuant to Law 68/1999, formerly Law 482/1968;
  • the measures adopted under Legislative Decree 81/2008 on occupational health and safety, regarding health surveillance, the company doctor and training and information initiatives;
  • education and training initiatives, including those relating to any vocational apprenticeship and job-placement contracts entered into, as well as any concerning the citizen's training record booklet;
  • workers' enrolment in supplementary pension funds;
  • list of illness events up to 3 years before the change of contractor

1) Contract succession under the same terms

Where a contract is taken over under the same terms, conditions and contractual services, the incoming company undertakes to retain, without a probationary period, all staff employed on the previous contract, as documented, for at least 4 months before the contract ended.

This excludes workers who have since resigned, retired or are affected by other specific circumstances (e.g. death).

2) Contract succession under different terms

If the new contract differs substantially from the previous one in terms, conditions and contractual services, the incoming company is summoned to the local Association it has appointed or, failing that, to the Provincial Labour Directorate or any equivalent competent local body, together with the company union representatives and the competent local signatory trade unions, to review the situation, where possible within the 15 days preceding the contract succession.

The meeting should aim to reconcile the contract's changed technical and organisational needs with maintaining employment levels, taking into account the professional profiles and deployment of the staff involved.

To achieve these aims, it is permitted to use mobility between job positions within the company's operations, or flexibility tools such as part-time work, reduced working hours and flexible working days, or, as a last resort, social safety nets such as mobility schemes.

3) Intra-company contract succession under different terms

The trade union consultation procedure set out above shall also apply in the case of a succession of contracts involving a single company (as the awardee of both contracts), where a substantial change in the terms, conditions and contractual services between the two contracts prevents the previous employment levels from being maintained.