Urgent measures - conversion into law of the Tax Decree – Labor

Subject: Urgent measures regarding labor and for non-deferrable needs, conversion into law of the Tax Decree – Labor

The Tax Decree – Labor n. 146 of October 21, 2021, is converted, with modifications, into Law n. 215 of December 17, 2021, published in Gazzetta Ufficiale on December 20, 2021.

Below are the most significant updates regarding labor.

One-time reimbursement of the sick pay fully borne by the employer

Within the expenditure limit of 188.30 million euros for the year 2021, private sector employers with social security obligations to the INPS (National Social Security Institute), excluding domestic employers, are entitled to a lump-sum reimbursement for the costs incurred relating to their employees who are not entitled to economic sickness insurance with INPS (for example: employees in the industrial sector). For sickness events from January 31, 2020, to December 31, 2021, employers will submit an online application to the Social Security Institute to obtain reimbursement, paid by INPS, for an amount equal to €600.00 per worker. The application must be accompanied by a declaration attesting to the periods related to economic sickness benefits. We await instructions from the Institute regarding the procedures and deadlines for submitting applications. The reimbursement is recognized to the employer on a one-time basis for each individual worker and is provided only in cases where the work activity, during the event, cannot be carried out in agile mode. INPS will carry out checks on the truthfulness of the declarations submitted.

Parental leave

An employed parent of a cohabiting child under the age of 14, alternatively to the other parent, may refrain from work for a period corresponding in whole or in part to the duration of the suspension of the child's in-person teaching or educational activity, to the duration of the child's SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as to the duration of the child's quarantine ordered by the locally competent ATS following contact wherever it occurred.

The benefit is recognized, regardless of the child's age, to parents of children with disabilities in a situation of certified severity pursuant to Article 3 paragraph 3 of Law n. 104/1992, in cases where the child has contracted the SARS-CoV-2 infection, or for the duration of the child's quarantine or in the event that the suspension of in-person teaching or educational activity has been ordered or if the child attends day care centers of an assistance nature that have been ordered to close.

Parental leave can be used on a daily or hourly basis; an allowance equal to 50% of the salary itself is recognized in place of the salary, calculated as provided for by the Consolidated Law on Maternity and Paternity (Decree 151/2001), with the exception of paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the aforementioned Consolidated Law. The related periods are covered by imputed contributions. INPS, with News of December 21, 2021, announces that it is possible to submit the related online applications. For periods of parental leave used by parents starting from the beginning of the 2021/2022 school year until the date of entry into force of the Decree (October 21, 2021), they can be converted upon request into this leave (if they were requested because the child was ill from having contracted the SARS-CoV-2 infection, or for quarantine of the child, or for suspension of in-person educational activities, or for closure of day care centers of an assistance nature.

There is a spending limit, and INPS monitors it, communicating the results to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies and to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Further provisions regarding wage supplementation treatments

The conversion law of the Tax Decree – Labor has confirmed the additional thirteen weeks of Ordinary Allowance and Wage Supplementation Fund in Derogation, for the period from October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, without any additional contribution. Applications can be submitted by private sector employers who suspend or reduce work activity due to events attributable to the Covid-19 epidemiological emergency, and can concern workers employed as of October 21, 2021.

These treatments are granted up to a spending limit of 657.9 million euros for the year 2021, divided between the two aforementioned measures. INPS monitors the situation, and if it emerges that the spending limit has been reached, even prospectively, it does not consider further applications.

Employers referred to in Article 50-bis, paragraph 2 of D.L. n. 73 of May 25, 2021 (employers in the textile industries, the manufacture of clothing items and leather items and the like, identified, according to the classification of economic activities ATECO 2007, with codes 13, 14, and 15), who suspend or reduce work activity due to events attributable to the Covid-19 epidemiological emergency, may submit an application for ordinary wage supplementation treatment (CIGO) for 9 weeks from October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. These treatments are also granted only within the spending limit of 140.5 million euros for the year 2021. INPS monitors the situation, and if it foresees, even prospectively, that the spending limit will be exceeded, INPS does not consider further applications.

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