In note no. 9550 of 6 September 2022, the National Labour Inspectorate explained changes contained in Legislative Decree no. 105/2022 ( “Work-life balance decree, “hereafter the “Decree”) which expanded parent and family caregiver protections and rights.
The Decree introduced Art. 27-bis of Legislative Decree no. 151 of 26 March 2001 (or “Consolidated Law on Maternity and Paternity”, hereafter “TU”), about mandatory paternity leave. This change allows working fathers to abstain from work for ten days. These cannot be divided into hours but can be used non-continuously from two months before the presumed date of birth and within the following five months. This leave is in addition to the alternative paternity leave, governed by art. 28 of the Consolidated Law, to which the father is entitled if the mother dies, suffers serious infirmity or abandons the family, or if the father has exclusive custody of the child, as an alternative to maternity leave.
The National Labour Inspectorate specified the leave:
Resignation, prohibition of dismissal and notice remain in force for the protected period.
Art. 2, paragraph 1, letter i), of Legislative Decree no. 105/2022 amended paragraph 1 of Art. 34 of the Consolidated Law and established that until the twelfth year (and not the sixth) of the child’s life, the mother and father are entitled to a compensable period of three months which cannot be transferred to the other parent. Parents are individually entitled to a further indemnifiable period of three months, for a maximum nine-month collective period (and not six).
The parents’ maximum limits under Art. 32 of the Consolidated Law were unchanged.
The parental leave changes apply to national and international adoption and foster care cases. The 30 per cent allowance is due, for up to nine months, within 12 years from the child’s entry into the family and no later than the age of majority (Art. 36, paragraph 3, of the Consolidated Law).
Under the provision in paragraph 5 of Art. 34 of the Consolidated Law new wording, parental leave is counted in the seniority and does not entail a reduction of holidays, rest, thirteenth month salary or Christmas bonus, except for accessory remuneration connected to workplace presence. This is without prejudice to more favourable collective bargaining provisions.
Based on the new regulations that came into force on 13 August 2022, in priority order, the cohabiting spouse is treated in the same way as a cohabiting partner under a civil partnership and a de facto cohabitant of the disabled person in a serious condition under Art. 1, paragraph 36, of Law no. 76/2016.
Leave may be taken within 30 days (and not 60) from the application. Cohabitation may be established after submitting the application, provided that it is guaranteed throughout the leave.
The new Art. 33, paragraph 3, of Law no. 104/1992 as amended by Art. 3, paragraph 1, letter b), no. 2), of the Decree, includes public employees in a civil partnership or de facto cohabitant as those who have the right to leave. When requested, the right to leave can be given to more than one among those listed above which be used individually, superseding the “sole carer” principle. This is without prejudice to a three-day limit for assisting the same seriously disabled person.
As a result of the amendment of Art. 8, paragraph 4 of Legislative Decree 15 March 2015 no. 81, by Art. 5, paragraph 1, letter a) of the Decree, priority was given to the change of employment contracts from full to part-time. This applies to oncological or serious, chronic, ingravescent degenerative illnesses affecting the spouse, or civil partner.