Italy: COVID-19 - Protocol for working places and “Cura Italia” Decree

 

The latest measures announced and then issued by the Italian Government with regard to COVID-19 are: 

(i) the Virus containment Protocol in working places of 14 March 2020 and

(ii) the “Cura Italia” Decree of 16 March 2020 (not yet available in the Official Journal at the time of drafting of this Flash News, that we have decided to publish anyway in order to provide you timely assistance).

Below you will find a brief summary of the main impacts: 

The Protocol:

stresses the need to implement smart working if possible, and includes anti-contagion measures to be adopted in working places; in particular:

• information: every employer must inform anyone who comes into the company’s premises of the provisions issued by Authorities with regard to COVID-19 (by means of flyers, posters etc);

• entrance notes in company’s premises: the company is allowed (a) to check staff’s body temperature (fully complying with privacy rules), by banning entrance to those who will result with a temperature higher than 37.5°C; (b) to forbid for 14 days access to work to those who have been in contact with infected people;

• entrance notes in company’s premises to third parties: the companies must restrict access to third parties and, if not possible (in case of suppliers et cetera), to organize entrance/passage/exit procedures aimed at avoiding contacts with internal staff; 

• cleaning and sanitization of company’s premises: in particular, cleaning of premises at the end of the day and periodical sanitization of keyboards, screens, mouses and so on must be guaranteed using appropriate cleaners, both in the offices, and in production departments (it is noted that “Cura Italia” Decree provides a tax credit equal to 50% of sanitization costs incurred, up to a maximum of Euro 20.000,00);

• personal hygiene protections (hand-washing …) and individual protection tools: must be always respected and make them respected;

• common space management (lunchrooms, changing rooms, smokers areas, beverages and snacks machines): must be sanitized every day, also by applying shifts among employees in order to limit the meetings and respect safe distances;

• business re-organization (shifts, trips and smart work), management of new working hours, redefinition of production levels: are allowed in order to implement Ministerial provisions;

• management of entrance, exit and internal movements of employees, meetings, internal events and training: to be organized in order to limit contacts, cancel movements and to respect distances between employees;

• management of a symptomatic person in the company: it must be applied according to Ministerial procedures (immediate information to HR office and to medical staff, isolation…);

• health monitoring, by competent doctor and RLS involvement: must be constant and focused;

• updating of regulation protocol: in the companies must be established a Committee for the verification and application of the mentioned Protocol’s rules. 

“Cura Italia” Decree:

pending the publication of the Decree-Law on the Official Journal, we list the main measures related to employees provided in the draft shared by Senate of the Republic:

• Wage guarantee fund (“Cassa Integrazione”), introduced by highly simplified procedures, as follows:

• ORDINARY: on one hand, it is provided a new ordinary wage guarantee fund treatment with only special purpose “COVID19 EMERGENCY” as a replacement of previous social safety nets in favor of (a) companies where at the date of entry into force of Decree-law 23 February 2020, no. 6, an extraordinary treatment of wage subsidies was ongoing; (b) companies where a solidarity allowance is ongoing;

•  IN DEROGATION: on the other hand, the Regions (and Autonomous Provinces) may authorize a wage subsidies fund in derogation, in favor of the companies to which the protective measures provided by existing provisions concerning suspension or reduction of working hours during the contractual relationship are not applying.

Therefore, for all companies (even for those with less than 5 employees, including agricultural field), it will be possible to access the mentioned treatment, that will be covering up to 9 weeks of wage subsidies, with direct payment made by INPS.

• Parental leave: working parents of private sector with children aged under 12, have the right to benefit of a specific leave, for which an allowance equal to 50% of the salary will be granted. The use of such leave will be alternatively granted to both parents, for an overall period of fifteen days.

• Baby-sitting vouchers: in alternative to parental leave and for the same kind of workers, it is possible to choose the payment of a bonus to buy baby-sitting services up to Euro 600.

• Law 104: workers who provide assistance for people with disabilities, may ask for permits provided by Law 104 up to 24 days more (in total) in the next two months (March and April 2020).

• Collective dismissals and for g.m.o.: collective dismissals for economic reasons are suspended for 60 days.

In the next days, we will provide you with further indications. In the meantime, we remain at your full disposal to share any evaluation on the above.

 

For further information, please contact: 

Federica Getilli, Associate

Bureau Plattner, Milan & Bolzano

e: federica.getilli@bureauplattner.com  

t: +39 02 25060760

 

 

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