Hiring in Public Companies: The Court of Cassation and Ruling No. 17207 of 2025 on the Nullity of Fixed-Term Contracts
A recent ruling by the Court of Cassation, Ruling No. 17207 of June 26, 2025, addresses a crucial issue: the recruitment methods for personnel in wholly publicly owned companies and the consequences of violating regulations. This decision, which involved A. G. versus P. C., quashes and decides on the merits a previous ruling by the Court of Appeal of L'Aquila of July 14, 2022, offering important insights into the balance between labor law and public law principles.
The Regulatory Framework: The Obligation of Competitive Procedures
Wholly publicly owned companies, while operating with private law instruments, manage services of public interest. This subjects them to specific rules aimed at ensuring transparency, impartiality, and equal access, which are cornerstone principles of administrative and constitutional law.
Article 18 of Legislative Decree No. 112 of 2008 (converted with amendments by Law No. 133 of 2008) requires these companies, which manage local public services, to adopt the same competitive and selection procedures as public administrations for personnel recruitment. This requirement is an essential condition, the non-observance of which entails serious consequences.
The Cassation's Maxim: Nullity and Exclusion of Conversion
The Court of Cassation, in the ruling under review, forcefully reiterated this principle, enunciating a clear and peremptory maxim. It is essential to analyze it:
Pursuant to Article 18 of Legislative Decree No. 112 of 2008, converted with amendments by Law No. 133 of 2008 (in the text applicable ratione temporis), wholly publicly owned companies whose object is the management of local public services, for the purpose of personnel recruitment, must observe, under penalty of nullity of the employment contract, the competitive and selection procedures of public administrations, and consequently, the rule of conversion of a null fixed-term contract into an indefinite-term employment relationship cannot apply.
This statement is of paramount importance. The Court of Cassation clarifies that non-compliance with competitive procedures renders the employment contract null and void. Nullity, in Italian law (Article 1418 of the Civil Code), is the most severe form of contract invalidity and implies that it produces no effects from its inception.
Furthermore, the ruling categorically excludes the possibility that a fixed-term contract affected by such nullity can be converted into an indefinite-term employment relationship. The Court emphasizes that, for public companies, the prevalence of the principle of access through public competition prevents such an automatic outcome, protecting the general interest in equal access.
Practical Implications for Workers
For workers hired without adherence to competitive procedures, the ruling reiterates the impossibility of obtaining job security through conversion. Protections will be of a compensatory nature, such as compensation for loss of chance. It is important to remember:
- Null Contract: The hiring violates mandatory rules.
- No Conversion: Competition prevails over stability.
- Competitive Obligation: Public companies must comply with the rules.
- Compensation Only: No indefinite employment.
This interpretation is in line with previous rulings (such as the cited No. 3621 of 2018), which have always emphasized the specificity of recruitment in the public and para-public sector.
Conclusions
Ruling No. 17207 of 2025 strengthens a fundamental pillar of our legal system: the need to ensure maximum transparency and impartiality in access to jobs in entities managing public services. For wholly publicly owned companies, this translates into the non-derogable obligation to announce competitive and selection procedures, safeguarding not only legality but also citizens' trust in the fairness of the system. For workers, awareness of these rules is essential.
