Legislative Decree no. 34/2020 (so-called “Decreto Rilancio”) has been converted, with amendments, into Law no. 77 of July 17, 2020.
The most significant innovations concerning the employment profiles introduced by Law 77/2020 are the following:
A. Social shock absorbers
- The provisions of Legislative Decree no. 52/2020 regarding the use of the 4 additional weeks of salary integration are implemented. In particular, it is provided that the 4 additional weeks of salary integration initially allocated for the period 1 September 2020 – 31 October 2020 can be used even before 1 September 2020.
- Earlier use is subject to full use of the 14 weeks for the period 23 February 2020 – 31 August 2020, without prejudice to the maximum total duration of 18 weeks of wage supplementation.
B. Parental leave
- From July 31 to August 31 2020, the period within which parents working in the private sector with children up to the age of 12 years (and without age limit for parents working with children in a state of disability or disability in a state of proven seriousness) may request 50% paid leave, up to a maximum of 30 days, which may be taken on a daily or hourly basis, is extended, without prejudice to periods already taken before the law came into force.
C. Transfer of undertaking: minimum duration of the trade union consultation phase
- Until August 17, 2020, the trade union consultation phase referred to in Article 47, paragraph 2, Law no. 428/90 may not last less than forty-five days, if no agreement has been reached.
D. Extension of the right to remote working to those most exposed to the risk of contagion
- The right to remote working provided for parents who are employed in the private sector with at least one child under the age of 14, is extended, until the end of the epidemiological emergency by COVID-19, on the basis of assessments by the competent doctors, also to workers who are most at risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2, due to the age or the risk condition deriving from immunodepression, from oncological pathologies or from life-saving therapies or, in any case, from co-morbidities that may characterize a situation of higher risk ascertained by the competent doctor in the context of health control. This on condition that the remote working is compatible with the characteristics of the work performance.
E. Extension of apprenticeship contracts and fixed-term contracts, also in the temporary work scheme
- The term of the apprenticeship contracts, with the exception of professional apprenticeship contract, and of the fixed-term contracts, including temporary contracts, is extended by a duration equal to the period of suspension of work, performed under the same contracts, as a result of the epidemiological emergency by COVID-19.
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The law firm De Luca & Partners remains available to provide any information necessary to deal with the emergency, as well as to develop the best strategies to minimize its impact on business productivity.
