The Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and ANPAL (that is the National Agency for Active Employment Policies) issued, on 7 June 2018, a joint signature circular establishing the criteria and the ways of accessing the replacement Agreement by the employees falling within company and professional profile scopes at risk of excess of staff, by way of implementation of the measure included in article 24-bis of Law No. 148/2015. The ‘replacement Agreement’ format will be drafted consistently with the model attached to the above-mentioned circular. The circular also stresses that the employer that, pursuant to paragraph 6 of the above-mentioned article 24-bis, hires the employee in the period in which he/she benefits from the replacement allowance, will be entitled to exemption from the payment of 50% of the social security contributions due as a whole, with the exclusion of the premiums and contributions due to INAIL (that is the Italian Industrial Injury Compensation Board), within the maximum limit of an amount equal to Euro 4,030.00 on an annual basis. INPS (that is the Italian National Social Security Institute) will readjust such amount on an annual basis based on the variation of the ISTAT consumer price index for the families of blue-collar and white-collar workers. The benefit will arise provided that the company does not have proprietary assets essentially coinciding with those of the existing employer. The exemption is granted for a duration not in excess of: a) 18 months, in case of indefinite term employment; b) 12 months, in case of fixed-term employment and if, throughout its performance, the aforesaid contract is transformed into an indefinite term contract, there will be entitlement to the contributory benefit for a further six-month term. For the purposes of benefitting from the allowance, ANPAL will disclose to INPS the data related to the employers having hired employees throughout the period of enjoyment of the replacement allowance.
