Thanks to Eleonora Ragagnin for collaborating on this article
On September 21, 2022, Law no. 142 of 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the “Converting Law”) converting Decree no. 115 of August 9, 2022 “Urgent measures on energy, water, emergency, social and industrial policies” (known also as the “Decreto Aiuti-bis”) was published in the Italian Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale).
In the area of worker protection, under a common framework of simplification, few provisions linked to smart working were added to the Decreto Aiuti-bis by the Converting Law.
In the field of the constitutive modalities of a smart working relationship, Art. 25-bis of the Converting Law entitled “Extension of smart working for private sector workers” states that the simplifying arrangements for establishing smart working referred to in Art. 90, para. 3 of Decree no. 34 of 2020, converted by Law no. 77 of 2020, shall be extended until December 31, 2022.
Therefore, there is no need to enter into individual written agreements, and employers are still able to simply notify the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, electronically through the documentation made available on the Ministry of Labor’s website, of the names of workers and the date of termination of smart working.
From a substantive perspective, Art. 23-bis of the Converting Law entitled “Extension of smart working for fragile workers and working parents with children under the age of 14” confirms these employees’ right to perform smart working until December 31, 2022.
Specifically, the Converting Law:
- for fragile workers, confirms the original provision of Art. 10, para.1-ter of Decree no. 24 of 2022, converted by Law no. 52 of 2022 (Art. 26, para. 2 of Decree no. 18 of 2020, converted by Law no. 27 of 2020, provides the definition of fragile workers), stating that these employees “normally” carry out their activities in smart working mode, also through the assignment of different tasks included in the same category or area of classification, as defined by the collective agreements in force, or with specific professional training;
- for working parents who have at least one child under the age of 14, confirms the provision of Art. 10, para. 2 of Decree no. 24 of 2022, converted by Law no. 52 of 2022, with references to its Annex B. These employees are entitled to perform smart working, provided that (i) such modality is compatible with their performance and (ii) there is no other parent who is the beneficiary of instruments of income support in the event of suspension or termination of employment, or another non-working parent.
