Claims for extraordinary leave

Cohabitation with a family member with a severe disability must begin by the start of the leave period and continue for its entire duration.

The following categories of workers are not entitled to extraordinary leave:

•  domestic and family service workers;
• home workers;
• daily agricultural workers;
• self-employed workers;
• para-subordinate workers.

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Leave may not be granted to more than one employee to care for the same person with a disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92). It is, however, possible to authorise both the taking of the aforementioned leave and the taking of time off by several workers to care for the same person with a severe disability, on an alternating basis and provided that this does not take place on the same days (Article 33 of Act 104/1992).

The benefit is not payable for periods during which no work is scheduled, such as, for example, vertical part-time work involving unpaid periods.

The leave may be taken as a continuous period or in separate blocks, even on a day-by-day basis.

To ensure that public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays are not counted, work must actually resume between one period of leave and the next.

No actual return to work can be established either when leave is taken from Monday to Friday (in the case of a short working week) without returning to work on the Monday following the week in which the leave was taken, or when annual leave is taken. Holidays, illness, public holidays and Saturdays falling between the period of extraordinary leave and the return to work are not counted.

If the leave is taken in separate blocks of days, the year is considered to consist of 365 days for the purpose of calculating the maximum period.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

The employee is entitled to an allowance equal to the last salary received in the month preceding the leave, calculated on the basis of fixed and regular components, up to a maximum income limit which is adjusted annually.

The allowance includes the accrued portion of the thirteenth monthly payment and other additional monthly payments, bonuses, allowances and rewards. Variable components of remuneration are excluded (INPS message No. 30 of 4 January 2024 (in Italian)).

If the leave is claimed while the employee is on partial suspension of work under the Wage compensation fund scheme (CIG on a reduced-hours basis), the allowance is calculated on the basis of the employee’s last salary, net of the supplementary allowance. The same rule applies to solidarity contracts involving a reduction in working hours.

The period of leave is covered by imputed contributions, which count towards pension entitlement and the calculation of the pension amount.

Periods of leave do not count towards the accrual of annual leave, the thirteenth-monthly payment and severance indemnity, but they do count towards insurance seniority.
The allowance and imputed contributions are payable up to a maximum total amount, which is adjusted annually in line with ISTAT inflation figures. For leave taken in whole weeks or in days, imputed remuneration may not exceed the maximum weekly or daily amount. 

PAYMENT OF THE ALLOWANCE 

The employer pays the allowance in advance and recovers it by offsetting it against the contributions due to INPS.

The INPS pays the allowance directly to:

• permanent and fixed-term agricultural workers;
• occasional or fixed-term entertainment industry workers.

If the health and administrative requirements laid down by law are no longer met, the allowance is no longer payable and INPS will recover any sums already paid.

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Leave is also payable during full-time hospitalisation in the following cases (INPS Circular No. 155 of 3 December 2010 (in Italian); INPS Circular No. 32 of 6 March 2012 (in Italian)):

• interruption of hospitalisation for certified medical examinations and treatments;
• admission of a person in a persistent vegetative state or with a poor short-term prognosis;
• admission of a person with a disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92) for whom the healthcare staff at the facility require the presence of a carer.

The recognition of a disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92) takes effect from the date on which the certificate is issued, unless the certificate specifies that it is valid from the date of the claim.

If a disability certificate (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92) is not issued within 45 days of the claim being submitted, the person concerned may submit a certificate issued by an ASL doctor specialising in the condition in question. This certification shall remain valid until a final decision is reached.

The provisional certificate of disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92) must also specify:

• the diagnosis;
• the social, occupational, relational and situational difficulties caused by the condition.

The doctor accepts responsibility for the information provided.

The provisional certificate issued by the Joint medical committee, on the other hand, may be taken into account before 45 days have elapsed since the claim for recognition of disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92) and remains valid until the final decision is issued.

In the case of cancer, the provisional certificate becomes valid 15 days after the claim is submitted to the Joint medical committee.

If the final decision does not recognise the disability (Article 3(3) of Act 104/92), INPS will recover any sums already paid out.

It is also possible to take leave between the expiry of the  medical certificate subject to review and the conclusion of the medical review, as follows:

• workers who have already received the benefit and who submitted a claim while the report was still valid may take further periods of leave until the review is concluded by submitting a new claim (INPS Circular No. 127 of 8 July 2016 (in Italian)). If the review examination ends with a report of failure to confirm the status of severe disability, any benefits provided from the day following the date of establishment of the new report will be recovered;
• workers who have never received the benefit while the report was valid may take periods of leave between the expiry date of the report and the conclusion of the review, by submitting a claim which is provisionally approved pending the conclusion of the review (INPS message No. 93 of 13 January 2021 (in Italian)). If the review assessment results in a report stating that the status of severe disability has not been confirmed, any benefits that may have been paid will be recovered. 

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

Claims can be submitted online by using the dedicated service.

Alternatively, claims can be submitted by:

• phoning the Multichannel Contact Centre on 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +39 06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• patronage institutes and intermediaries of the Institute, using the electronic services that these provide.

In the case of a national or international adoption, the claim must state:

• the date the child joined the family;
• the date of adoption or fostering;
• the date of entry into Italy;
• the date of the decision;
• the competent court;
• the reference number of the decision.

Any changes to the details provided in the claim must be reported promptly to INPS and to the employer. For claims currently being processed in the month in which the change or withdrawal takes place, the online service allows you to:

• report changes using the ‘change claim data’ function;
• cancel, in whole or in part, the requested period, using the ‘cancel’ function.

An appeal against decisions to reject a claim may be lodged with the provincial committee of the relevant local INPS office for the worker’s place of residence. An appeal to the provincial committee does not preclude the right to take legal action. 

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The table (in Italian) shows the deadlines exceeding thirty days, set by the Institute with a Regulation.

In addition to the terms for the issuance of the measure, the table (in Italian) also indicates the relevant manager.

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