Italy's Decree-Law No. 19/2024
Under Italy's Decree-Law No. 19/2024 (converted into Law No. 56/2024), the penalties for employing workers without proper documentation—such as before the issuance of an official work visa—are significant and criminal in nature.
Potential Penalties for Undeclared Labor
The law classifies such conduct as a contravention, punishable by:
Imprisonment for up to one month, or
A fine of €60 per worker for each day of employment.
This fine increases to €72 per worker per day if the employer has been subject to criminal sanctions for similar offenses in the past three years.
However, the total fine imposed cannot be less than €5,000 or exceed €50,000, regardless of the number of workers or days involved.
Aggravating Factors
If the employer has previously been sanctioned for similar offenses within the past three years, the fine may be increased by up to 40%, depending on whether the previous offense was under the same law.
Regularization Option
Employers may extinguish the offense by:
Ceasing the unlawful conduct, and
Paying a reduced fine, which is one-quarter of the maximum fine (i.e., up to €12,500).
Additional Risks
Beyond fines, employers may face:
Suspension of business activities,
Civil lawsuits for unpaid wages and contributions, and
Liability for missed social security and insurance contributions.
In cases involving undocumented non-EU nationals, criminal sanctions may also apply in addition to accruing civil penalties and related unpaid taxes and benefits. Where multiple employees are involved, the fees and sanctions are applied to each worker.
Under Law 56/2024 and INL guidance (Note No. 1091/2024), unlawful staff supply, contracting and secondment — the legal buckets into which undeclared foreign assignments fall — are now punished with:
Arrest (up to one month) or
A proportional fine per worker per day of unlawful work
The daily fine is €60 per worker per day, with a mandatory +20% aggravation for foreign workers, raising the effective baseline to €72 per worker per day.
Where the conduct overlaps with “off-the-books” employment, that rate reaches €90 per worker per day. Italian law further imposes a statutory floor:
Even when the calculated total is below €5,000, the amount assessed cannot be less than €5,000 per case.
That floor is not theoretical — it applies regardless of actual computed amount.
Recidivism multipliers apply as follows:
“Simple” recidivism (any prior sanction under the same law in past three years): rate increases by +40%
“Specific” recidivism (prior sanction under same Article 18 offense): rate increases by +40% on the already aggravated rate