Law No. 145 of December 30, 2018 bearing the State Budget for the year 2019 has finally landed in the Ordinary Supplement to the Official Gazette No. 302 of December 31, 2018. Below we summarize in extreme summary the main innovative aspects of the Law, in the areas of employment support, parenting and family support, and economic development.
1. ABOUT SUPPORTING EMPLOYMENT
1.1 Increased sanctions on labor
The Budget Law puts in place important resources for strengthening control against illegal labor, which is achieved on the one hand through the increase
of sanctions provided in case of illegal work and on the other hand through the strengthening of the staffing of the National Labor Inspectorate. Among the regulations approved by the maneuver, Paragraph 445 of Article 1 provides in point a) the authorization for the National Labor Inspectorate (INL) to hire on an indefinite term basis, with an increase in the staffing level, a contingent of mainly inspection personnel equal to:
- 300 units for the year 2019,
- 300 units for the year 2020 and
- 330 units for the year 2021.
In addition, in point (d) of the same paragraph, there is an increase in sanctions in the field of labor and social legislation, as follows:
- by 20% for violations of regulations on irregular employment, labor administration, reporting requirements, maximum working hours and rest periods, as well as other labor and social legislation provisions (e.g., for lack of prior notice of establishment of the employment relationship; violations of regulations on labor administration, secondment; violations on maximum working hours, daily and weekly rest periods);
- by 10% for violations of regulations on health and safety protection in the workplace (D.Lgs. 81/2008);
- by 20% for violations of other social and labor legislation to be identified by a subsequent decree of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy. These surcharges are doubled where, in the previous three years, the employer has been the recipient of administrative or criminal sanctions for the same offenses.
The surcharges will be paid to the state budget to be reallocated to the estimate of the Minister of Labor and Social Policies; they will also be allocated to increase the Decentralized Resources Fund of the National Labor Inspectorate for the enhancement of its personnel.
2. On the subject of SUPPORTING Parenthood
The Budget Law:
- extends and enhances the position of the working father who, now, enjoys 5 days (instead of 4) of mandatory paternity leave, with the extra day of optional leave remaining;
- introduces two important innovations on maternity protection:
A. the first is a direct amendment to the Maternity TU, which provides for the possibility of using the entire maternity leave after the birth of the child through recognition of the possibility for female workers to abstain from work exclusively within the five months following the birth, provided that the specialist doctor of the National Health Service or with it in agreement and the doctor in charge for the purposes of prevention and protection of health in the workplace certify that this option does not harm the health of the pregnant woman and the unborn child.
B. the second is, on the other hand, a direct change from the law that introduced the regulation of Agile Work (Law No. 81/2017) and stipulates that public and private employers who enter into agreements for the performance of work in agile mode are required in any case to give priority to requests made by female workers in the three years following the conclusion of the period of maternity leave or by workers with children with disabilities.
3. On the subject of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Budget Law analyzes both indirect facilities, dedicated to the development of business and the liberal professions, such as tax measures related to the position of individuals exercising businesses and professions (flat-rate and flat tax regime), the tax credit for 4.0 training, tax relief for new investments, but, also, the revision of INAIL rates that will result in savings in premiums due for insurance against accidents at work.
Another significant novelty in terms of development concerns micro and small enterprises, which are given a non-repayable contribution, in the form of vouchers, for technological and digital transformation through the enabling technologies envisaged in the National Enterprise 4.0 Plan and modernization of the management and organizational structures of the enterprise, including access to financial and capital markets.
