With the publication in the ‘Gazzetta Ufficiale’ of the Support Decree bis (Decree Law no. 73/2021) new guidelines have been defined on one of the issues that has certainly been the most heated and urgent since the beginning of the "Covid-19 era". The "new" Decree holds firm the deadline of June 30, 2021, with an articulated reshaping of the prohibition of dismissals in relation to the use of social shock absorbers. So what will change as of 1 July 2021?
- Until 30 June 2021: Generalised redundancy freeze
- From 1 July 2021 to 31 October 2021: Block for companies benefiting from CIGD, ASO or CISOA provided by the Support Decree
- From 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021: Freeze on layoffs for companies that benefit from CIGO without paying additional contributions
Therefore: Until 30 June 2021 (general term)
the initiation of collective redundancy procedures remains precluded, pursuant to articles 4, 5 and 24 of Law no. 223/1991;
pending dismissal procedures started after February 23, 2020 remain suspended
- dismissal for objective reasons pursuant to art. 3 of Law no. 604/1966 remains forbidden;
- the procedures underway pursuant to art. 7 of the same law (Law no. 604/1966) remain suspended.
From 1 July 2021 to 31 October 2021 employers entitled to the FIS and CIGD:
- are barred from initiating collective redundancy procedures pursuant to articles 4, 5 and 24 of Law no. 223/1991;
- • pending dismissal procedures started after February 23, 2020 remain suspended
- • dismissal for objective reasons pursuant to art. 3 of Law no. 604/1966 remains forbidden;
- the procedures underway pursuant to article 7 of the same law (Law no. 604/1966) remain suspended.
From 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 employers who activate the CIGO or CIGS, for the duration of the treatment used and until 31 December 2021:
- the launch of collective redundancy procedures, pursuant to articles 4, 5 and 24 of Law no. 223/1991, remains precluded;
- pending dismissal procedures started after 23 February 2020 remain suspended
- dismissal for objective reasons pursuant to art. 3 of Law no. 604/1966 remains forbidden;
- the procedures underway pursuant to article 7 of the same law (Law no. 604/1966) remain suspended.
In addition to the above, it should be added that the new decree (Law Decree no. 73/2021) introduces the possibility for employers to access 26 weeks of extraordinary redundancy fund on an exceptional basis, in the period between 26 May 2021 (the date on which the decree came into force) and 31 December 2021. However, the aforesaid measure is reserved only for private employers (referred to in article 8, paragraph 1, Decree Law no. 1) who, having completed the 13 weeks of Covid interventions, could only access the ordinary CIG.
Limits to the fruition of this special CIGS are the following:
- the average reduction in working hours for employees under CIGS may not exceed 80% of their daily, weekly or monthly working hours;
- each worker may not undergo a reduction in working hours of more than 90%, with reference to the entire period covered by the CIGS.
The employer who has activated the CIGS in derogation, until 31 December 2021, is exempted from the payment of the additional contribution, as well as those who will access the CIGO or CIGS from 1 July 2021, after the period of fruition of the 13 Covid weeks. In the final analysis, paragraph 5 of article 40 of the Support Decree bis provides, in any case, for the possibility of interrupting the employment relationship in the following cases:
- definitive cessation of the business activity, resulting from the liquidation of the company without continuation (even partial) of the activity, in the event that in the course of the liquidation there is no transfer of a group of assets or activities that can be configured as a transfer of the company or a branch of it pursuant to art. 2112 of the Civil Code
- the existence of a company collective agreement entered into by the most representative trade unions at national level with the employer that has as its object the incentive to terminate the employment relationship
- bankruptcy, when the provisional exercise of the business is not envisaged or its termination is ordered.
All that remains is to wait for the hoped-for end of the "state of emergency", which has now been extended until 31 July 2021, and the end of the year, in order to assess possible new scenarios in this regard.
Labor Law