Prepared by Francesca Tironi, Giulia Spalazzi and Valentina Panettella
With message no. 1321 of 23 March 2020, INPS provided some clarifications regarding the procedures for the submission of applications for the granting of the ordinary salary supplement (CIGO) and the ordinary allowance benefits of the Solidarity Funds (FIS), pursuant to articles 19, 20 and 21 of Legislative Decree no. 18/2020.
In order to have access to the CIGO treatment and the ordinary cheque, the applications:
- must provide for a new and specific causal named “COVID-19 national” and it will be sufficient to attach the list of beneficiary workers (in fact, it is not necessary to fill in the technical report pursuant to art. 2, paragraph 1, of the Ministerial Decree no. 95442/2016, nor the attachment of the causal form or other declarations);
- must be telematically sent by the end of the fourth month following the month in which the period of suspension or reduction of work began (art. 19, paragraph 2, of Decree Law no. 18/2020);
- can be submitted for a maximum duration of 9 weeks, included in the period from 23 February to 31 August 2020 (this period will not be included in the calculation of the mobile two-year period or the five-year mobile five-year period as per Legislative Decree no. 148/2015 and will not be counted for the purposes of calculating the limit of 1/3 of the ordinary working hours in the mobile two-year period);
- for the workers affected by the event, no assessment is made of their length of service, however, they must be in force at the applicant company on 23 February 2020;
- with reference to the events of suspension or reduction of work started in the period included between the date of 23 February 2020 and the date of 23 March, the dies a quo coincides with the date of 23 March (the period between the two dates is therefore neutralized); while for those occurring from 23 March onwards, the start of the deadline for submitting the application will follow the ordinary rules, coinciding with the start date of the event of suspension or reduction of work;
- the deadline for submitting applications is set at the end of the fourth month following the start of the suspension/reduction of work activity;
- the additional contribution is not due.
It should be noted that employers who already have a CIGO or ordinary cheque authorisation in progress or have applied for a CIGO/ ordinary cheque not yet authorised, with any other reason (e.g. crisis, drop in orders, etc.), may, when the requirements are satisfied, resubmit a new application with the reason “COVID-19 national”, even for periods already authorised or for periods covered by applications already submitted and not yet defined. If granted, INPS will automatically cancel the previous authorisations/applications for overlapping periods.
In addition, the ordinary allowance will also be granted to employers registered with FIS who employ on average more than 5 employees.
The Supplementary Temporary Layoff Benefits Fund (“CIGD”) introduced by D.L. n. 18/2020 is subject to national and regional access rules.
In particular, the treatment of CIGD:
- is excluded for domestic employers and those who are eligible for access to CIGO, ordinary cheque (FIS) or cheque from Bilateral Funds;
- may be granted or extended to all employees, except managers, provided that they were employed on 23 February 2020;
- is recognised for a period not exceeding nine weeks;
- it is granted regardless of the number of employees in force but, while for employers with more than 5 employees the consultation/trade union agreement, also concluded electronically, with the comparatively more representative trade unions at national level, for those with up to 5 employees, the trade union agreement will not be necessary;
- it is paid exclusively by direct payment by INPS and, unless otherwise provided for at regional level, consists of an indemnity equal to 80% of the salary, including any additional monthly accruals, which the employee would have received for hours not worked between zero and the contractual time limit (no more than 40 hours per week, up to the maximum limit);
- the beneficiary workers are entitled to imputed contributions and related additional charges;
- applications must be submitted to the Regions and Autonomous Provinces where the production unit for which the application is made is located (for enterprises that have production units in at least five regions or autonomous provinces on national territory, for the purpose of coordinating the relevant procedures, the treatment of CIGD is recognised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, on behalf of the regions concerned);
- the benefit is granted by decree of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces concerned, which carry out the investigation according to the chronological order in which the applications are submitted and also check that the legal requirements are met.
The CIGD set forth by the D.L. n. 18/2020 is additional to the derogating cash periods initially provided for by the D.L. n. 9/2020 (Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna), the Regions may authorize them, with a single concession measure, for a total period not exceeding 13 weeks.
The Ministry of Labour, moreover, in agreement with the Mef, on March 24, 2020, allocated the resources assigned by the State by reason of the potential number of workers benefiting from the CIGD.
To the present day, the Regions that have provided for agreements and arrangements concerning the CIGD are Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Apulia, Tuscany and Veneto.
Let’s Talk
For a deeper discussion please contact:
PwC TLS Avvocati e Commercialisti
Labour Law – Associate Partner
PwC TLS Avvocati e Commercialisti
Labour Law – Senior Manager