Module 5 After the webcast you will have an understanding of - - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Module 5

After the webcast you will have an understanding of

• Leaves and absences
• Vacation
• Protected absences (parental leaves-sickness-accident)
• Allowances and average daily wage

Leaves and absences

Vacation: Annual Leave

• Each CCNL National Collective Bargaining agreement has its specific annual leave in days/hours
• Unused annual leave cannot be paid, but it can be carried forward
• Payment can only be made at termination, or for days exceeding 4 weeks a year
• Any accrual from previous years older than 18 months must undergo contribution in June; in

case of use or payment for termination, employer can recover an equivalent amount of contribution reducing INPS payment in the F24 form and reporting details in the Uniemens (xml tag “Ferie”)

• Employers therefore need to ensure they keep holidays accruals and use divided by year
• This is a way of encouraging employees to take the carried forward leave in the first few months
• f the year

Public allowances and protected absences: Overall

Eligible workers can receive

• Public allowances (i.e. ANF= Family allowance)
• Protected absences indemnity
• Payment is done by company on behalf of public authorities.
• Employees receive payment in their payslip.
• The company claims back the amount through monthly payment of social contributions (F24

Form), reducing company’s debit of a corresponding amount.

• Detailed description of these allowances and indemnities is then reported monthly by the

company inside the Uniemens.xml mandatory report, sent to Inps.

Protected absences: Maternity Leave

Eligibility:

• The working mother, whether she is a subordinate worker, self-employed or a professional
• The working father
• Natural, adopted and foster children

Rights:

• Paid Leave
• Days-off
• Protection of working mothers and working fathers
• Public indemnity for maternity and paternity leave
• Pension coverage
• Employee’s seniority increases
• 13th and 14th installment are accrued (mandatory maternity)
• TFR is always accrued on the CCNL gross salary, even if not actually paid

Protected absences: Parental Leave

Maternity leave is the right of the working mother Women must take leave (and cannot be forced to work):

• During the two months prior to the expected date of delivery
• If the birth occurs after that date, for the period between the presumed date and the actual

date of birth

• During the three months after the date of birth
• During further unused days before the birth if the birth occurs earlier than the expected date

Maternity Pay

• Public Indemnity: an amount of 80% of the total average daily wage (13th – 14th installments included)

is paid during the compulsory maternity leave, for a standard period of 5 months.

• CCNL and Company indemnity: Most CCNL s increase amount so that it covers 100% of the average

daily wage the employee would have received in case of standard behaviour

• How it is paid: The employer pays the indemnity to the employee, highlighting the treatment on

payslip, then claims back the amount paid deducting from the monthly social security payments

• Term contracts: when contract ends during maternity, the employee receives the payment directly

from the Pension Authority (INPS)

Paternity Leave

• The working father has the right to the statutory paternity leave after the child is born
• The adoptive father or foster parent is entitled to paternity leave if the mother requests it
• In certain circumstances including the death or serious illness of the mother and where the father

has sole custody then the father has the right to the full maternity leave or the remaining amount

• This right is also recognised in cases where the mother is not or was not working
• Salary compensation, contract and social security terms are the same as expected for the working

mother.

Parental Leave

In addition each parent is entitled to a period of voluntary leave which is taken in :

• The first eight years of a child’s life, for biological children
• The first eight years from the child’s joining the family and not over the age of majority for

adopted or foster children Parental leave as a whole can not exceed ten months

• The limit is raised to eleven months if the father exercises his abstention right for more than three

months

Parental Leave

• The working mother can take a maximum of 6 months a parental leave after maternity leave
• The working father, can take a maximum of 7 months leave from the date of the child’s birth, this

leave can be taken even if the mother is not working

• Both parents can take leave at the same time but must not exceed the total leave allowable
• The father must take 1 days leave in the first 5 months from the date of birth and can take a

further 1 or 2 days leave in the first 5 month but this will reduce the maternity pay

• Parental leave can be taken as days or hours

Parental Leave: indirect remuneration

• An allowance equal to 30% of salary is payable for parental leave periods
• This is payable for a maximum of six months (shared between both parents) and can be paid up

to the child’s third birthday

• Where the income is below a fixed amount for the year the allowance is payable for periods

after the first six months (again this is a total of the leave taken by both parents)

• The employer makes the payments and deducts the amounts from the social security payments

paid over (reducing F24 payment + reporting parental leave in the Uniemens form as a credit)

• The period of a maximum 6 months paid parental leave within the first three years of the child’s

life is covered by non-cash contributions providing the parents continue their relationship and regardless of their previous contribution period

Parental leaves: particular categories

Executives “Dirigenti”:

• It has been extended to employees who are categorised as managers and employees of private

employers Temporary subordinate female workers:

• Fixed term contract workers have the right to receive the maternity allowance for the entire

duration of the maternity leave period; it will be paid directly by Inps

• Where the contract expires during this period
• Or where it expires before this period provided that the lapsed time between the termination
• f the employment relationship and the beginning of the leave is no more than 60 days
• With regards to the parental leave, a fixed-term employee has the same rights as a permanent

worker as long as the employment relationship is pending

Parental leaves: breastfeeding leave

Breastfeeding

• the working mother is entitled to 2 hours of paid leave, after maternity leave and until child is 1 year old
• where an employee works less than 6 hours a day the right decrease to 1 hour
• In case the company organized an internal nursery (either on site or in the immediate vicinity) the rest

periods are reduced to 1 hour

• rest periods are doubled in case of twins
• in case of adoption and custody care, the leaves are recognised within the first year the child joins the

family

• Breastfeeding represent an indirect retribution, since the company is reimbursed by Inps

Parental leaves: father’s rights

The father has the right to apply for daily permits/rest periods in the following cases :

• The father has the custody of the children
• Instead of the employed working mother
• In the event that the mother is working
• In the event of death or serious sickness of the mother
• in the case of non-working mothers, the rights due to the father up to the child’s first

birthday is without exception and regardless of the existence of proven situations determining the objective impossibility of the mother to look after the baby

Parental leave: Child’s Sickness

This is an unpaid voluntary leave that either parent can use alternately during the child's illness

• Children under 3 years of age:
• Each parent can be absent from work (alternately) as long as the child is sick
• Children under 8 years of age:
• Each parent can be absent from work (alternately) for a maximum of 5 days per year

Maternity: protected period

• Female workers cannot be dismissed from the beginning of the pregnancy period until the child’s first birthday

Exceptions:

• Negligence implying the dismissal on justified grounds
• Negative outcome of the trial period
• Expiry of the trial period/probation
• Termination of the business
• Completion of the recruitment
• To dismiss a female employee before the child’s first birthday for any other cause is illegal
• To dismiss the female or male employees for taking or applying for parental leave and leave for a child’s sickness (as

previously detailed) is also illegal

• If someone is dismissed for any of the above reasons the employer will be obligated to reinstate the worker/employee

Sickness

• Sickness means a medical condition that involves a temporary inability to work due to changes in health

and or injuries

• The inability to work can be partial and so must be assessed in relation to the type job the employee holds
• Where the employee is undergoing specific therapies or is on a period of convalescence this is also

deemed to be a period of sickness

Rights During Sickness

• The employee has the right for their job to be preserved, within the limits established by collective

bargaining during sickness which is defined as the exclusion period

• After that period, the employer may terminate the contract on justified grounds
• The employee has the right to financial compensation, as required by law or by contract:
• Payment of the INPS’s sickness benefit
• Payment of company sick pay
• Commencement of seniority of service (up to the maximum repayable limit, or until the period of

sickness has been paid)

Notification of sickness

• Notification must be made to the employer according to the terms of the Collective Bargaining

Agreement

• Failure to notify does not imply any effects on the sickness benefits but may be subject to

disciplinary action

• The employee must prove that he/she was unable to work

Certification of sickness

• Either the doctor gives the employee a hard copy of the medical certificate or the certificate

is sent electronically to the INPS who then advise the employer

• Employees in the private sector must send the certificate to the employer within 2 days,

unless the employer has requested the INPS to send all certificates electronically

The INPS Compensation

• The daily sickness benefit is a social security benefit provided under the INPS but paid by the

employer and offset against social security contributions via the UniEmens monthly statement

• It cannot be offset against any social security payment adjustments due
• In some specific cases the INPS may pay the sickness benefit directly
• Employees are entitled to the sickness benefit from the first day of employment

Amount of the Allowance

• The first three days of sickness (carenza) are defined as the exclusion period and are normally paid by

the employer as defined by the collective bargaining but no sickness benefit is paid

• The sickness benefit is payable from the 4th day of sickness, counted from the date of issue of the

certificate or, at the most, from the preceding day

• The INPS payment is calculated as:
• 50% of the average daily wage (ADW) until the 20th day of sickness;
• 66.66% from the 21st day if the event continues, or in case of a relapse
• Public sector employees receive 80% of the average daily wage and private sector employees may

receive 100% via an occupational scheme

Amount of the Allowance

Reduced allowances

• Where the employee is sick in a suspension period or on the termination of the insurance

relationship, the allowance is payable at 66.66% of the normal rates

• Where the employee is hospitalised and is not entitled to family benefits i.e. has no dependent

relatives, the allowance is normally payable at 40% of the normal rates

• From the date of discharge from hospital or the care unit, the benefit will revert to the standard

amount

• Where the employee has dependent relatives they must declare this on the FC/MAL form
• therwise the benefit will be paid at the reduced amount

Maximum Payment Period

• The payment made by INSI is limited to 180 days in a calendar year
• During this period, all sick days, even if unpaid must be calculated
• i.e. it’s a rolling year and all prior sickness is taken into account
• The following periods are excluded from the calculation:
• Pregnancy related sickness
• Occupational sickness or absence due to an accident at the workplace
• TB
• Absence caused by the acts of third parties

Average Daily Wages (ADW)

• The average daily wages are calculated as the total wages subject to social security contributions
• That is all earnings received from the employer whether in cash or in kind, gross of any withholdings,

including any recurring compensations, unfractionated and not paid in the normal wage period

• Where the earnings are lower than the minimum salary, the sickness benefit must be proportional to the

effective pay received by the worker and not to the minimum salary expected

• The determined lump sums, as arrears for the waiting period of the contract, upon renewal of the Collective

Bargaining Agreement are included in the wages in order to calculate the amount of the sickness benefits

Average Daily Wages (ADW)

These following are excluded when calculating the ADW:

• Allowance in lieu of advance notice
• Allowance in lieu of the paid annual leave
• Amounts paid to integrate sickness benefits
• Accrued thirteenth month salary or other monthly payments, if the employer is compelled by

contract to pay them in full, regardless of any reduced working activities

• Unsettled former holidays if fully paid by the employer regardless of reduced working activities

Average Daily Wages (ADW)

For employees and business executives

• The average daily wage is calculated by dividing the salary of the month prior to when the

sickness began by 30 (fixed divisor), added to the accrued compensation paid monthly e.g. 13th monthly pay If the worker has been employed for the the entire month then:

• Divide the pay due for the days of work provided in the month, for the number of days

(including Sundays and paid holidays);

• Divide the monthly accrued compensations by 30;
• Add the two components

Average Daily Wages (ADW)

For blue collar workers and similar sectors the ADW is calculated by:

• Determine the salary received for the month (monthly paid) or for four weeks (weekly paid)

immediately prior to the onset of the sickness

• Determine the number of days worked or paid included in the month or the four weeks

considered

• Divide the amount of the monthly salary by the number of days worked
• Determine the recurring monthly accrued compensations not part of the monthly or weekly

pay (thirteen month pay, awards, etc.)

• Divide the amount by 25 (fixed divisor)
• Add the amounts together

Summary

• Vacation
• Absences
• Protected absences and their treatments:
• Sickness
• Maternity/Paternity/Parental leaves
• Work accident