Prepared by Marzio Scaglioni and Davide Poli
On March 12th, 2020 the first operating instructions were issued for requesting access to social security benefits to support companies and workers recently affected by the epidemiological emergency of “COVID-19“, whenever – therefore – working activities have been suspended or reduced.
In fact, it has been published the INPS official Message no. 1118/2020, aimed at issuing the indications on how to simplify the presentation of ordinary lay-off requests and ordinary allowances pursuant to art. 13 and 14 of the recent law decree n. 09/2020, aimed at granting social security benefits on behalf of the employers related to those working days when activities have been suspended or reduced:
According to the provisions of the aforementioned regulatory framework – to be considered unchanged despite the succession of the various ministerial decrees of the last few days – the “simplified” applications for ordinary lay-offs and ordinary FIS allowances may therefore be presented by employers, adding a new reason justification – called «COVID-19 d.l. n. 09/2020» – only with reference to the following cases:
- Suspension or reduction of working activity affecting production units or organizational complexes located in one of the eleven Municipalities of the «ex-red zone», the first epicenter of contagion in Italy;
- Suspension or reduction of the work activity that affects production units or organizational units located outside the Municipalities indicated above, but with reference only to workers resident or domiciled in the aforementioned municipalities (and therefore unable to perform the work activity).
Although the submission on the website INPS portal of the respective procedure remains necessary, given the creation of the new access reason, companies occurring in one of the two conditions listed above will be able to take advantage of significant concessions in the documentary requiring phase, which will be considerably simplified, moreover making use of a neutralized effect, i.e. a substantial retroactivity the wage integration intervention.
Pending the issuance of new regulatory provisions, which according to the official press releases of the ministerial structures now seems imminent, all employers who are not in one of the two conditions indicated above can, in any case, use the tools of wage supplementation (mostly ordinary Wages Guarantee Fund and ordinary FIS allowance), however, following the ordinary access procedures already provided by general rules (for instance, in case of lack of orders, market crisis, etc.)
In any case, all the prescriptions already released in recent days remain valid, especially with regard to the application, throughout the national territory and for the entire duration of the emergency, of the “smart-working” method even in the absence of the individual agreements envisaged by the legislation .