Sources:
Law by Decree No. 41/2021, issued on March 22, 2021 (the “Sostegni Decree”, i.e. the “Supporting Decree”)
Employers can now request additional weeks of governmental salary integrations to help them through the ongoing Covid emergency. These salary integrations are only applicable to employees that were in force as of March 23, 2021 and can be requested free of charge. (Art. 8 of the Sostegni Decree)
More specifically, companies can request:
The Sostegni Decree differs from previous Covid emergency legislation, in allowing the new 28 weeks of special salary integration to be added with those 12 already requested and which were to be used from April 1, 2021 under previous provisions (i.e., Law no. 178/2020).
The Sostegni Decree also differs from previous Covid emergency legislation in that it does not provide for a partial exemption from social security contributions for those employers who do not request governmental salary integrations.
Collective redundancy procedures and individual terminations for objective reasons (i.e., dismissals related to the organization and management of the business) are prohibited until June 30, 2021. (Art. 8 of the Sostegni Decree)
This termination ban is further extended from July 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021, for those employers who are eligible for the non-ordinary salary integration programs specifically introduced for facing the Covid-19 pandemic.
In any case, starting from November 1, 2021, the termination ban will no longer be in effect for all employers.
Lastly, this termination ban continues not to apply in the following cases:
Until June 30, 2021, employees who are certified as gravely handicapped and employees who have certified medical conditions that make them more susceptible to COVID (i.e. being immunocompromised), will be eligible to fulfil their duties in smart working whenever possible, even if to do so they will need to be assigned to different duties within the same job level. (Art. 15 of the Sostegni Decree and Art. 26 of Law by Decree no. 18/2020)
In case smart working is not possible, these “vulnerable” employees will be considered to be on sick leave, but the duration of this sick leave will not be counted for the purpose of calculating the 180 days of sick leave after which the employer can terminate the employment contract (“Periodo di comporto”). (Art. 15 of the Sostegni Decree)
The New Social Insurance for Employment (“NASpI”) is the current unemployment indemnity provided under Italian legislation.
Normally, to be eligible for NASpI, one must meet the following requirements: (i) being currently unemployed; (ii) having accrued at least 13 weeks of social security contributions in the last 4 years before unemployment; (iii) having accrued at least 30 days of “effective work” in the 12 months before unemployment.
The Sostegni Decree provides that from March 23, 2021 to December 31, 2021, the third NASpI requirement will not be applicable and, therefore, the monthly unemployment indemnity will also be accessible to those who did not “effectively work” at least 30 days during the last year, possibly because of their suspension under any available salary integration program. (Art. 16 of the Sostegni Decree)
Through December 31, 2021, companies can renew or extend fixed-term employment contracts one more time for a maximum period of 12 months, without regard for the normal limitations on such extensions or renewals, provided that the total duration does not exceed 24 months. (Art. 17 of the Sostegni Decree)
Normally, a fixed-term employment contract can be extended or renewed only in the presence of one of the following reasons: