The pandemic has prompted the legislator to identify tools that can help companies and workers overcome the crisis and help companies move towards a new production system.
The legislator, responding to social partners’ long-standing requests, has reformed the social safety nets and intervened on the existing inconsistencies to universalise and rationalise them, govern labour market instabilities and support employment transitions. Among the objectives is widening the range of workers and firms eligible for wage subsidies. The link between wage subsidies, vocational training and active policies has been strengthened.
One of the measures most affected by the reorganisation of social safety nets legislation is the Extraordinary Redundancy Fund, through the significant widening of the range of employers covered by the measure and introducing a new reason.
The “company reorganisation” includes implementing “transition processes”, where employment recovery can be achieved through worker professional retraining and skill enhancement.
An employment transition agreement has been introduced to deal with employment critical situations. Employers with more than 15 employees can be granted
an additional wage supplement for 12 months aimed at recovering employment. During trade union consultation, the parties must define actions aimed at re-employment, such as professional training and retraining, including using interprofessional funds for continuous training.
Continue reading the full version in Italian on Il Sole 24 Ore.
