“Cura Italia” Decree to support enterprises and workers

Among the measures that have come one after another in these weeks, this is the right time to make some remarks in light of the novelties introduced with Italian Legislative Decree no. 18/2020 “Cura Italia”, effective as of 17 March 2020.

First of all, it should be noted that in terms of social safety nets, the redundancy scheme included in our legal system is certainly one of the most favorable if compared with the main western countries and therefore a special law should not be necessary except to offer coverage to companies excluded from its benefits at present.

In terms of these companies, it has become very clear that the logic followed by the 2014 legislation (Law no. 183/14) for the reform of social safety nets basically focused on the desire to take into “account the special natures of various manufacturing sectors”, appears less and less adequate with the need to provide companies with uniform instruments able to offer solutions and coverage for systemic problems like the one generated by the most famous virus at present.

That said, we know that the Cura Italia Decree introduces extraordinary provisions for access to social safety nets for companies forced to reduce or suspend work due to the COVID-19 emergency.

The aforesaid Decree – among the multitude of included interventions – on one hand introduces an exception to the redundancy scheme and on the other provides the possibility of easy access to the ordinary redundancy scheme and wage integration fund.

Basically, the use of the ordinary redundancy scheme and wage integration fund has been simplified, since a “fast track” welfare consultation needs to be performed, upon request of trade union organizations within 3 (three) days.

This introduced consultation represents something brand new, not just due to the short, record-breaking deadline, but also due to the innovative “electronic” procedures which the same urgent law allows and includes.

We confirm that the solutions proposed by the current government to make the intervention of social safety nets more effective and resolutive, and believe that – once the emergency period is over – the law wants to introduce universal type social safety nets, i.e. applicable to all workers, regardless of their sector, just like it did with unemployment benefits (so-called NASPI) in 2015.