INPS

The allowance is paid to blue collar workers, white collar workers and managers under permanent contract, dismissed and collecting ordinary mobility.

START DATE AND DURATION

The payment of the mobility benefit starts from the eighth day following the date of dismissal if the claim is submitted within seven days of the dismissal. If the claim is submitted after the seventh day from the date of dismissal, the payment starts from the fifth day from the date of submission thereof.

For workers under the special lay-off mobility scheme as of 1 January 2015, Law no. 92 of 28 June 2012, introduced a progressive reduction of the duration provided for by Law no. 223 of 23 July 1991.

The table below provides details on the reduction:

The duration of the mobility benefit can never be greater than the period of service accrued at the company that carried out the dismissal.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

The amount is equal to 100% of the extraordinary wage subsidy allowances due. The maximum limit is set annually on the basis of the revaluation of the ISTAT consumer price index, considering the relevant category.

The gross global remuneration received during the monthly pay period immediately preceding the dismissal is to be considered as a basis for calculation and includes only the items not related to the period of service and the accruals of thirteenth and fourteenth month pays.

The amount of the compensation is calculated as follows:

• the reference compensation is identified;
• the membership range and the related ceiling are established. There are two pay bands and the compensation value and maximum amount are revalued annually;
• 80% of the payment is obtained.  If the amount is lower than the ceiling, it is disbursed, otherwise the ceiling is paid.

The amount obtained is paid 100% for the first 12 months, reduced by 5.84%. Subsequently, 80% of the amount paid in the first 12 months is due, but without the 5.84% reduction for subsequent periods.

The indemnity is paid via transfer to the beneficiary's bank or postal current account or as an over-the-counter transaction at any post office in the national territory.

In case of services with a net amount exceeding €1,000, the public administrations cannot make payments by cash (via postal check). The sum can also be received by deposit to a bank or post office current account, in a postal savings book, on an INPS card or on payment cards with IBANs, issued and registered in the name of the legal beneficiary. For deposits to a bank or post office current account, the claim must specify the bank details.

WITHDRAWAL OF BENEFIT

The mobility benefit are suspended in case of failure to pass the probationary period following re-employment for an indefinite period (for a maximum of 2 times) and open-ended re-employment, and dismissal within 12 months. In these cases, readmission to mobility benefit and re-enrolment in the mobility list are determined, and workers retain their right to the remaining part of the mobility benefits.

If maternity and paternity leave are used during the collection of the mobility benefit, the latter is suspended. In this case, the workers are entitled to the remaining part of the mobility benefit at the end of the leave period.

In case of temporary or partial re-employment, the service is suspended but the registration remains valid. The re-employment must be communicated by the worker to the relevant territorial INPS office within 5 days, under penalty of withdrawal. The days worked are not taken into account for the purpose of determining the duration of the mobility benefit, up to a number of days equal to that of the total days for which the benefits are due. Therefore, the date of the end of service is delayed, which, in any case, cannot exceed the duration of the initially envisaged service.

The mobility benefit cease when workers have benefited from the maximum duration of the service established by article 7 of Law 223/1991.

The workers are then removed from the workers' mobility lists and lose the right to the relative indemnity pursuant to article 9, paragraphs 1 and 6, of Law 223/1991, if they:

• refuse to attend a professional training course authorised by the region or do not attend it regularly;
• do not accept a job offer that is professionally equivalent or that presents homogeneity even inter-category, despite being classified within a payment level of not less than 10% compared to that of the original duties and compliant with the national collective labor agreements;
• do not accept, in the absence of work featuring the characteristics of the previous point, to be employed in public utility works or services pursuant to article 6, paragraph 4, of Law 223/1991;
• communicated after five days to the competent INPS office performance of part-time or fixed-term employment (INPS Circular No. 16 of 23 January 1997);
• received the allowance as a lump sum payment;
• were hired under a full-time and permanent contract and, in all cases, the unemployment status no longer applies;
• have become members of direct pension benefits.

REQUIREMENTS

The mobility benefit require a period of service of at least 12 months of which at least six of actual work. Seniority means the length of service at the company that dismissed the worker.

The allowance can be claimed by workers hired under permanent contracts, dismissed and under special lay-off mobility scheme at the end of the Extraordinary Wage Compensation Fund (article 4, paragraph 1, Law 223/91) due to the impossibility to re-employ suspended workers or owing to staff reduction, following the transformation, restructuring and discontinuance of activities (so-called "group dismissal") of companies that employ more than 15 dependent workers, only if they are beneficiaries of the mobility benefit  (article 24, Law 223/91).

These workers must have been dependent workers of:

• industrial companies (with the exception of construction companies) that employed on average more than 15 dependent workers in the last semester;
• commercial companies that employed over 50 dependent workers in the last semester;
• cooperatives that fall within the scope of the mobility legislation and that have employed on average more than 15 dependent workers in the last semester;
• artisan companies only if the contracting party resorted to unemployment benefits;
• travel and tourism agencies that employed on average more than 50 dependent workers in the last semester;
• security firms that employed on average more than 15 dependent workers in the last semester;
• air transport companies regardless of the number of dependent workers (from 1 January 2013);
• airport system companies regardless of the number of dependent workers (from 1 January 2013).

The mobility benefit is incompatible with re-employment under a permanent employment contract.

It is also incompatible with direct pension benefits under the General Compulsory Insurance (AGO) for invalidity, old age and survivors' pensions of dependent workers, under replacement, exempt and exclusive laws of the insurance itself, as well as Employees' Pension Fund (FPLD) and/or special social security scheme of self-employed individuals, and with advance payments of:

• old-age pension;
• seniority pension;
• incapacity pension;
• invalidity pension;
• ordinary invalidity allowance.

The worker beneficiaries of invalidity pension and the ordinary invalidity allowance may prefer the unemployment benefits. If they opt for unemployment benefits, the retirement benefits remain suspended.

If workers become beneficiaries of the ordinary invalidity allowance after the date of registration on the workers' mobility lists, they can exercise the option to collect the indemnity within 60 days from the date of notification of the measure granting the acceptance of the ordinary invalidity allowance claim.

The mobility benefit are compatible with:

• self-employment within certain income limits;
• indemnities and attendance fees received by workers who hold elective or non-elected public offices of executive institutions of local authorities (municipalities and provinces), of regions and trade union offices;
• indirect retirement benefits and civilian invalidity allowance: 
• • survivors' pension;
  • reversible pension;
  • war pension;
  • optional pension;
  • life annuities from injury;
  • pension payable by foreign states with which no international conventions on social security exist;
  • pension payable by the insurance of another EU member state;
  • privileged pension for infirmity contracted during the compulsory military service granted as compensation in the absence of a permanent employment or service relationship;
  • civilian invalidity pension;
• participation in training courses.

Concerning self-employment (freelancing, trade, crafts, small entrepreneurs, coordinated and continuous collaborations and project), the service is compatible when the income does not entail the loss of the status of unemployment. According to the current legislation on income taxes, the earnings are quantified at € 4,800 in the calendar year for self-employed activities and € 8,000 for coordinated and continuous collaborations. If the limit is exceeded, the beneficiary is no longer included on the workers' mobility lists and, due to loss of the unemployment status, the rights will be lost at the beginning of the work activity.

In cases of compatibility with self-employment and with indemnities and attendance fees received by workers who hold elective or non-elective public offices of executive institutions of local authorities (municipalities and provinces) and regions, and union officers, remuneration can be combined with the mobility benefit within a limit useful to guarantee the collection of an income equal to the remuneration envisaged at the time the mobility took effect.

In cases of compatibility with indirect pension benefit, with civilian invalidity allowances and participation in training courses, the remuneration is entirely cumulative.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must be submitted, under penalty of withdrawal, within 68 days from the date of dismissal.  The same submission deadline applies also when the worker receives payment for dismissal without notice. In this case, the 68 days elapse from the end of the notice.

The worker on sick leave at the time of dismissal can apply for mobility benefit within 60 days from the end of the illness period. If the illness occurs within eight days of dismissal, the worker may submit the indemnity claim within 60 days of the end of the illness period.

The worker on maternity leave at the time of dismissal can apply for mobility benefit within 60 days from the end of the maternity period. If the maternity leave occurs within eight days of dismissal, the worker may submit the indemnity claim within 60 days of the end of the maternity period.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must be submitted online at INPS via the dedicated service.

Alternatively, claims can be submitted by:

• phoning the contact centre at 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or 06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• Via electronic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof.

Under Article 21 of Legislative Decree 150/2015, the claim is equivalent to a declaration of immediate availability and is transmitted by INPS to ANPAL (Agenzia Nazionale per le Politiche Attive del Lavoro) to be entered in the shared information system of active policies.