Your rights. The new regulations on parental leave. (Io e il mio bambino, no. 8 – august 2015)

Thanks to the approval of the implementing decree, these are the novelties introduced as of last June. The most important one regards the extension of parental leave up to 12 years of the child’s life (up to 6 to 30 percent of the salary). “The possibility of using leave by hours, instead of by day, was also confirmed”, said Elena Cannone lawyer from Studio De Luca – Avvocati Giuslavoristi di Milano. Use on an hourly basis is allowed for half of the daily hours of the month before the start of the leave can be used. For example, if this is eight hours, the leave can be used for groups of four hours. “To avail of this possibility”, continued Cannone, “you must notify the employer 5 days in advance for the entire day and two for hourly leave. The use of hourly leave cannot be combined with other types of leave or time off”. The maximum leave duration remains unchanged: 10 months, which can be used by both parents with a maximum of six months for the mother and seven for the father. Alternatively, parents can ask to work part-time for 50 percent of their normal hours, for a maximum of 10 months, and then return to full-time. The decree on leaves follows that related to the open-end employment contract with increased protection based on seniority, which is the pillar of the Jobs Act and which accompanies the exemption from paying social security contributions for a maximum of 36 months for employers who hire new employees by the following 31 December 2015. As of March 2015, the laws governing dismissals changed. “An offer of reconciliation was introduced”, said Cannone. “The employer may offer the employee, with certain procedures, an economic sum equal to one month pay for each year of seniority, that is not less than 2 and not greater than 18. This sum is completely exempt from taxes and contributions”. A measure that on one hand should provide incentives for hiring, offering the employer a legal framework that is less uncertain in the event of dismissal and challenge by an employee. “But at the same time”, observed the lawyer, “it introduces a parallel track between employees hired earlier, for whom article 18 of the Workers Statute applies, and those hired after March 2015”.

Source:
Io e il mio bambino – N. 8 – August 20