The Official Gazette No. 223 published (on 8 September 2020) the Decree Law 111/2020 entitled “Urgent provisions to tackle the unavoidable need for funding and support for the start of the school year, associated with the COVID 19 epidemiological emergency”. The Decree came into force on the following 9 September.
Let’s look in greater detail at the main regulatory changes in the labour law field.
Smart working rights
The right to smart working has become an established entitlement for employees, for all or part of the period corresponding to the length of time during which a child below fourteen years of age is required to quarantine at home, as ordered by the Prevention Department of the competent Local Health Authority, following contact inside the school complex.
Covid leave
If, however, smart working is not possible then one of the parents is entitled to absent him- or herself from work for all or part of the period corresponding to the length of their child’s quarantine.
For the periods of leave, an allowance is granted of 50% in lieu of full pay, calculated according to the same ratios applicable to maternity/paternity leave, i.e. first by identifying the INPS-taxable wage of the monthly period prior to that in which the worker absents him- or herself..
This value will be divided by 26 in the case of “blue-collar workers” and by 30 for “white-collar workers”: the result of the ratio will identify the “average daily pay”, to be re-proportioned to 50% and multiplied by the number of days on which the worker is absent.
It should also be noted that these allowances are subject to a 50 million euro expenditure ceiling for the year 2020 and, therefore, the INPS itself will monitor the available resources and suspend them if that spending threshold is reached.
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The aforementioned periods are covered by notional contributions.
These allowances will be available until 31 December 2020.
The two measures cannot be availed of if, during the period when the child is in quarantine, the other parent is already smart working or is not working.