The outgoing government focused on labour market regulation as part of its last actions. A choice made necessary by the impending economic crisis, which threatens to put a strain on the national production fabric and employment. The government intervened by issuing the Aiuti (Aid) decree (Decree Law 50/2022) and later the Aiuti-ter decree (Decree Law 144/2022), which was published in the Official Gazette on 23 September, two days before the Parliamentary elections.
The Aiuti-ter decree introduced significant changes which benefit workers and established new and different allowances for employees, self-employed workers and other categories. This is additional to the provisions of the Aiuti (Aid) decree, and modifies the rules introduced by the Budget Law 2022 on production termination of large companies.
De Luca & Partners managing partner Vittorio De Luca said: “The Budget Law introduced a new and complex procedure into our legal system, for companies with at least 250 workers. This preserves the employment and production fabric. The involved employers must initiate a consultation procedure and submit and discuss a plan for limiting the business termination or reduction’s employment and financial fallout, with trade union representatives, the involved regions, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Economic Development and ANPAL. The regulatory provision requires a plan which includes actions to safeguard employment, non-traumatic measures to manage redundancies (such as social safety nets), measures for the re-employment or self-employment, and any projects for the reconversion of the production site and related implementation timeframes.”
This procedure caused application problems for companies that had to adapt to the new legislation and institutions that should have a leading role in the management of company crises resulting from a plant, an office or independent department closure. De luca said: “With the entry into force of the Aiuti-ter decree, the government made some restrictive changes. One of the provisions requires the reimbursement of public subsidies, grants, and financial aids or advantages by the beneficiary production plants which terminate or downsize their business.”
Source: Affari & Finanza
