Formalising the hiring of a domestic worker

After obtaining all necessary documents required to hire a domestic worker, terms and conditions are agreed upon in order to draw up an employment contract.

Employers are responsible for notifying the INPS when they hire a domestic worker.

From 29 January 2009 onwards, the hire notification must be sent to the INPS within 24 hours of the day prior (including public holidays) to the start of employment. This notification is also effective for competent services, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Health, the Italian National Insurance Institute for Employment Injuries (INAIL) and the government's prefecture/regional office.

Regardless of the duration of employment, the INPS must be notified, even for the probatory period, and when:

• the work is occasional or intermittent; 
• the worker is already insured with another employer; 
• the worker is already insured for another activity; 
• the worker is a foreign national; 
• the worker is a pension holder.

A hire notification can be cancelled within five days of the date indicated as the start of employment. After this term, it will only be possible to notify of termination of the employment. 

As of April 2011, employers of domestic workers can use the appropriate online service to register and make any changes to the employment situation. Alternatively, employers can call the contact centre on 803 164 (free for landline calls from Italy) or 06 164 164 from mobile phones (calls are charged according to their network operator's tariff plan).

In accordance with the regulations in force, the computer-based procedure does not accept notification of employment between spouses, except in cases of a recognised disability, where the employer spouse receives the care allowance for the disabled. If the employer is employing a relative or in-law up to the third degree, hire notification will be given 'suspended' status and will be finalised by the competent INPS office only after the facts declared by the employer under their own responsibility have been checked and verified. 

A hire notification is not required in accordance with the procedures indicated above if the domestic employer intends to make use of services as ancillary work (type of contract introduced by the Biagi reform that can also be used for domestic work). Ancillary employment is paid using vouchers which can be purchased by the employer and contain the worker's wages and contributions to the INPS or the INAIL.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy has made it possible to use these vouchers for domestic work, with the maximum compensation that workers can receive fixed at EUR 7,000 (Article 48 of Legislative Decree No 81 of 15 June 2015).

As of 18 March 2017, it will no longer be possible to purchase the vouchers.

Work vouchers requested before 17 March 2017 can only be used for services that will be rendered before 31 December 2017.

Message No 4752 of 28 November 2017 sets out the instructions for managing these vouchers during the aforementioned transition period to ensure compliance with the legislative provisions.

For useful information concerning the drawing up an employment contract, please see the national collective labour agreement on the regulation of domestic employment (CCNL sulla disciplina del rapporto di lavoro domestico, pdf 968KB) and the new national collective labour agreement for cleaning ladies and carers (CCNL per colf e badanti, pdf 886KB).