Fixed-term contracts in opera-symphonic foundations: clarifications from the Court of Cassation in judgment no. 29455 of 2025

The performing arts sector, and in particular that of opera-symphonic foundations, has always been characterized by significant flexibility in the employment of artistic and technical personnel. However, the need to ensure the continuity of productions cannot result in total deregulation to the detriment of workers' rights. The Court of Cassation addressed this delicate balance in judgment no. 29455 of 07/11/2025, providing an important interpretative framework for the management of fixed-term contracts in light of European Union principles.

The regulatory framework and European protection against abuse

The dispute brought before the Supreme Court involved the employee M. C. A. and the employer F. D. F. D. At the heart of the debate is the application of national regulations that, over the years, have governed fixed-term employment in opera-symphonic foundations. Specifically, reforms such as Decree-Law no. 34 of 2014 had abolished the obligation to indicate a specific justification (causale) for the inclusion of a term in employment contracts. This liberalization, however, risked conflicting with European Directive 1999/70/EC, which aims to prevent the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts.

To avoid a gap in protection, the judges of legitimacy had to reconcile domestic legislation with supranational constraints, citing the fundamental ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 25 October 2018 (case C-331/17).

The headnote of judgment no. 29455 of 2025

Regarding fixed-term hiring of artistic and technical personnel in opera-symphonic foundations, the provisions set forth in Art. 3, paragraph 6, of D.L. no. 64 of 2010 (during the subsequent validity of Art. 1, paragraph 1, of D.L. no. 34 of 2014, which abolished the requirement of a causal link for the term) and Art. 29, paragraph 3, of Legislative Decree no. 81 of 2015, prior to the adjustments made by D.L. no. 59 of 2019, must be interpreted in accordance with the CJEU judgment of 25 October 2018, in case C-331/17, in the sense that the legitimacy of the term in an employment contract, notwithstanding the removal of formal specification burdens, must be assessed by verifying the existence of the requirement of necessary temporariness and provisional nature of the work opportunity, as a prerequisite inherent to the special nature of the regulations governing said foundations, to prevent the combination of the absence of a causal requirement for the term and the lack of a maximum duration limit from resulting in a domestic system lacking measures to prevent abuse, in contrast with Clause 5 of the framework agreement annexed to Directive 1999/70/EC.

Conforming interpretation and legitimacy requirements

As clearly emerges from the headnote reported above, the Court of Cassation establishes that the absence of a formal obligation to indicate a justification does not equate to total freedom to create precarious employment. Even where Italian law exempts the employer from indicating the reasons for fixed-term hiring in writing, a genuine temporary and provisional need must still exist.

In other words, the trial judge is called upon to verify whether the work opportunity responds to an actual transitory need of the opera foundation. To assess the legitimacy of the contract, the following elements must be considered:

• The genuine temporary nature of the requested service, linked, for example, to a specific theatrical season or a single performance;
• The absence of systematic and unjustified repetition of contracts, intended to cover needs that are in reality ordinary and structural;
• Compliance with Clause 5 of the European framework agreement, which requires Member States to adopt effective measures to prevent the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts.

Conclusions: a bulwark against precariousness in the cultural sector

Judgment no. 29455 of 2025 represents an important turning point. It reaffirms that the exemptions granted to opera-symphonic foundations due to the specificity of the sector cannot result in a total absence of protection for workers. Interpretation in conformity with European Union law is confirmed as the primary tool to curb precariousness, imposing a substantive check on the actual provisional nature of hiring.