In its circular of 18 March 2022, the Ministry of Labour provided operating guidelines relating to the changes made by Decree Law no. 4 of 27 January 2022, (hereafter, Decreto Sostegni ter [Support Decree ter]) to the regulations on wage supplements governed by Legislative Decree no. 148/2015.
The Ministry focused on the following issues:
- Starting date of the new provisions: the amendments made by Decreto sostegni ter come into force as of 27 January 2022 and refer to wage supplements starting from that date;
- Disbursement methods and deadline for the benefit reimbursement: the administrative procedure related to the granting of Extraordinary Wage Subsidies – CIGS is carried out electronically through the GIGS on-line application. This allows the employer, who has requested INPS to directly pay workers, to provide the Institute with the employees’ data necessary for the payment of the wage supplement within the legal terms.
- compatibility with the performance of work: the wage supplement is suspended if the beneficiary worker performs fixed-term work for six months.
- joint examination: the joint examination can be carried out electronically, using computer or telephone networks.
- Company reorganisation for transition processes: the company which intends to apply for the extraordinary wage supplement for a reorganisation linked to transition processes must submit a reorganisation programme which specifies the transition measures. These measures can be carried out by planning innovative processes of digital and technological transition, or actions aimed at environmental and energy renewal and sustainability.
- Employment transition agreement: employment transitions are for those workers who cannot be reallocated and are at risk of redundancy after a company reorganisation or reorganisation programme. For these employees, an income support measure is envisaged when the assessment by the company on the need to safeguard employment levels is carried out after the conclusion of the wage subsidy measure. In addition, the workers concerned by the agreement have access to a specific employment service process, called “Percorso 5: ricollocazione collettiva” (Course 5: collective reallocation).
- Conditionality and retraining: the conditionality mechanism applies to workers benefiting from wage subsidies paid by funds (bilateral, wage supplement fund – FIS and local fund). The training and retraining courses offered to these workers must be planned and coordinated with the labour demand in the area. Failure to participate unjustifiably in training initiatives may result in the loss of the wage subsidy;
- Transitional provisions: companies which cannot use CIGS, can access an additional period of extraordinary subsidy, of a maximum of 52 weeks, under certain conditions, and which can be used until 31 December 2023;
- Canteen and cleaning contractors: Canteen and cleaning contractors can use ordinary and extraordinary wage subsidies, regardless of the subjective conditions of the client company to which they provide their services. Specific clarifications are provided to these companies on the operational aspects to access the company crisis status and solidarity contract;
- Publishing: publishing companies can apply for CIGS when the suspension or reduction of work is determined by the approval of a company reorganisation programme due to a crisis or a company crisis under bankruptcy. The maximum total duration is 24 months, even consecutively. These companies are allowed to use the solidarity contract.
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