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Compensation for leave for female victims of gender-based violence

Publication: 23/03/2022

Article 24 of Italian Legislative Decree no. 80 of 15 June 2015 provides that female civil servants and dependent workers in the private sector and female workers with a co-ordinated and continuous working relationship, who are included in strong>protection courses related to gender-based violence, may take advantage of an abstention from work for a maximum period of 90 days in the time-frame of three years.

With Law no. 232 of 11 December 2016 (Budget Law 2017), the leave has also been extended to self-employed female workers.

With Law no. 205 of 27 December 2017, the so-called Budget Law 2018, the leave has also been extended to female workers in the domestic sector as of January 2018.

The following female workers may take advantage of an abstention from work:

  • female dependent workers;
  • female apprentices, blue-collar workers, dependent workers and managers with an employment relationship in place at the start of their leave;
  • female agricultural workers, on either a permanent or fixed-term basis;
  • female workers in domestic and family services;
  • female civil servants employed by public administrations;
  • self-employed female workers;
  • female workers registered with the INPS Separate pension scheme.

REQUIREMENTS AND DURATION

In order to take the leave and allowance, the individual must be a dependent workers who is currently employed, and involved with courses that are certified by the social services of the municipality to which they belong, by anti-violence centres or by Refuge Houses, as referred to in Article 5-bis of Decree-Law no. 93 of 14 August 2013, converted, with amendments, by Law no. 119 of 15 October 2013.

The compensation for leave may be used for a maximum period of three months (equivalent to 90 effective days of abstention from working activities) within three years of the start date of the certified protection course.

The leave may be used in conjunction with days on which work is scheduled to be carried out. It is therefore not due for non-working days (such as public holidays, periods of suspension from work or periods of leave), nor in the days following the termination date of the employment relationship.

The leave may be used on either a daily or hourly basis. Hourly arrangements shall allow for a number of hours of leave equal to half of the average contractual daily working time of the monthly or four-weekly pay period that has expired and is immediately preceding the month during which the leave began. National collective agreements concluded by the comparatively more nationally representative institutions may provide for one of the following arrangements.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

A daily allowance of 100% of the last payment shall be paid for days of leave used for protective courses. This shall be calculated by referring to the fixed and continuous items of average daily earnings in the monthly or four-weekly pay period that has expired and is immediately preceding the month during which the leave began.

For hourly use, the allowance shall be paid at the rate of half the daily allowance referred to above.

It is, however, paid directly by INPS by postal transfer or credit to a bank or postal account for:

  • female seasonal workers;
  • female agricultural workers (without prejudice to the right of the employer to advance the allowance for permanent agricultural workers);
  • occasional or temporary female workers in the entertainment sector;
  • female workers in domestic and family services (domestic help and caregivers).

For female workers registered with the Separate Pension Scheme, only the right to suspend the employment relationship is recognised and there is no entitlement to payment of the benefit (Article 24, paragraph 2 of Italian Legislative Decree no. 80 of 15 June 2015).

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

Female workers may submit their claim for compensation for leave for female victims of gender-based violence to INPS online by using the dedicated service. The service menu contains the following entries:

  • information, a page that describes the benefit;
  • manuals, a page where users can consult and download the manuals on how to use the “retrieve claim” function;
  • retrieve claim, a function where the claim can be completed and submitted;
  • cancel claims, a function that allows users to cancel the claim entered but not yet registered;
  • monitor claims, a function that allows users to verify the claims entered and submitted to INPS.

Alternatively, claims can be made by:
phoning the contact centre on +39 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +39 06 164 164 from mobile phones; using electronic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof.

The certification relating to the inclusion of the course at the social services of the individual’s municipality, of the anti-violence centres or of the Refuge Houses must be delivered in a sealed envelope to the territorially competent office, indicating the protocol number and the wording “Domanda Congedo straordinario art. 24 del d.lgs. 80/2015” [Special leave claim Article 24 of Italian Legislative Decree no. 80/2015] (for the Privacy Act).