Allowance for leave taken by workers to assist disabled family members in a serious situation or taken by disabled workers

The right may be extended to relatives and in-laws up to the third degree only if the parents or the spouse or the party of the cohabitant civil partnership or the de facto cohabitant (Article 1, paragraphs 36 and 37, Law 76/2016) of the person with a severe disability have reached the age of 65, or also have disabling conditions, or are deceased or absent.

Leave is not due to:

• homeworkers;
• domestic and family workers;
• fixed-term agricultural daily workers, neither for themselves nor as parents or family members;
• self-employed individuals;
• para-subordinate workers.

Read less

Parents, including adoptive or foster parents, of disabled children in a serious situation under three years of age may alternatively benefit from:

•  three days of monthly leave, also divisible into hours;
• extension of parental leave;
• paid hourly leave proportionate to the daily working hours, consisting of two hours per day if the working day is equal to or longer than six hours, one hour if the working day is shorter than six hours.

Biological parents of disabled children aged between in a serious situation three and 14 years and adoptive or foster parents of disabled children in a serious situation who have reached the age of three and within 14 years of the child’s entry into the family, may alternatively benefit from:

• three days of monthly leave, also divisible into hours;
• extension of parental leave.

Biological parents of disabled children in a serious situation over the age of 14 and adoptive or foster parents of disabled children in a serious situation after 14 years from the child’s entry into the family may benefit from three days of monthly leave, also divisible into hours.

The spouse, the party of the cohabitant civil partnership, the de facto cohabitant (Art. 1, para. 36 and 37, Law 76/2016), the relatives and in-laws of the disabled person in a serious situation can benefit from three days of monthly leave, also divisible into hours.

Without prejudice to the overall limit of three days of monthly leave for assisting the same individual with a disability in a serious situation, the right may be granted, upon request, to more than one eligible person, who may use it as an alternative to one another.

The extension of parental leave may be used from the end of the period of normal parental leave theoretically available to the applying parent, regardless of whether it has previously been used or exhausted. The days taken as ordinary parental leave and as extension of parental leave may not exceed three years in total, to be taken by the child’s fourteenth birthday. Adoptive and foster parents may take the extension of parental leave for a period of up to three years, including the period of ordinary parental leave, in the first 14 years from the date of entry into the family of the minor recognised as disabled in a serious situation, regardless of the child’s age at the time of adoption or fostering and in any event no later than when they reach the age of 18.

START DATE AND DURATION

The claim is valid from the date it is submitted.

It must include the required declarations of responsibility, and the person applying for leave must notify any changes to the information or circumstances self-certified in the claim within 30 days of the change.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

The allowances for the leave are paid as follows:

• leave taken in days will be compensated on the basis of the pay actually received;
• leave taken in hours will be compensated on the basis of the pay actually received;
• leave taken as extension of parental leave up to the child’s fourteenth birthday or, in the event of adoption or fostering, up to 14 years from the date of entry into the family of the child, will be compensated at 30% of the pay actually received.

During periods of paid leave, you are also entitled to the allowance due to the family unit.

The share of the thirteenth monthly payment, or other additional monthly payments, is included in the daily pay used as the reference for calculating the allowance and is therefore already paid by the Institute. Therefore, the employer is not required to pay the share relating to the Christmas bonus, as it is already included in the allowance paid by INPS.

The allowance is paid in the following ways:

• for eligible workers, the allowance is advanced by the employer, with the possibility of offsetting it against the contributions due to INPS;
• for agricultural workers with temporary or permanent contracts and for entertainment workers with occasional or temporary contracts, the allowance is paid directly by INPS following submission of the person’s claim.

In the case of vertical and mixed part-time up to 50% of the working hours limited to certain days of the month (full-time or reduced hours), the number of leave days must be reduced proportionally and rounded down or up depending on whether the fraction is up to 0.50 or higher.

In the case of vertical and mixed part-time with a percentage above 50%, all three days of monthly leave will be granted in full.

Proportional adjustment must also be carried out in the event of a reduction in work activity coinciding with a period during which the employee receives wage integration (CIG/FIS). Leave cannot be requested during contractual breaks.

In the case of a fixed-term agricultural employment relationship, entitlement to three days of leave is only possible if the workers are employed on a seasonal contract of at least one month and the work activity is spread over six days per week, or five days if they are on a reduced working week. Days of leave are not granted for parts of a month in which work is carried out only for a limited number of days.

A day of leave taken corresponding to an entire work shift, within any time slot, must be considered as a single day of leave. The same applies to night work, which, although it may span two calendar days, still constitutes a single work shift.

A worker with a severe disability who takes leave for themselves may be assisted by another worker. The days of leave of the two individuals concerned do not necessarily have to be taken on the same days.

A worker with a severe disability who takes leave for themselves may also take leave to assist other severely disabled family members, without the need to obtain a medico-legal opinion.

If the worker intends to assist more than one disabled person, they may combine multiple periods of leave, bearing in mind that such combination for the same worker is admissible only on condition that the family member to be assisted is the spouse or the party to the cohabitant civil partnership or the de facto cohabitant (Art. 1, paragraphs 36 and 37, Law 76/2016), or a relative or in-law within the first degree. Cumulation for the same worker is admissible to assist relatives or in-laws up to the second degree only when the parents or the spouse or the party to the cohabitant civil partnership or the de facto cohabitant (Art. 1, paragraphs 36 and 37, Law 76/2016) of the person with a disability in a serious situation have reached the age of 65 or have disabling conditions or are deceased or absent.

Read less

Another requirement is that the person to be assisted must not be hospitalised on a full-time basis in hospital or similar facilities, public or private, that provide continuous healthcare. The exceptions are:

• interruption of full-time hospitalisation due to the need for the disabled person in a serious situation to go outside the facility hosting them to undergo specifically certified examinations and therapies;
• full-time hospitalisation of a disabled person in a serious situation in a persistent vegetative state and/or with a poor short-term prognosis;
• full-time hospitalisation of a disabled person in a serious situation for whom the healthcare professionals at the facility require the presence of the person providing assistance.

Recognition of severe disability takes effect from the date the relevant certificate is issued, unless it indicates validity starting from the date of the claim.

If the disability certification is not issued within 45 days of submission of the claim, the person concerned is permitted to submit a provisional certificate.

The provisional certificate of severe disability must be issued by an ASL specialist doctor and, to be deemed suitable, must specify, in addition to the diagnosis, the social and occupational, relational and situational difficulties caused by the condition, with the doctor assuming responsibility for what is certified to the best of their knowledge and professional judgement.

The provisional certificate issued by the integrated medical commission may also be taken into consideration before 45 days have elapsed from the claim for recognition of severe disability, and will be valid until the final decision is made.
In the case of oncological diseases, the provisional certificate may be considered valid only after 15 days have elapsed from the claim to the integrated medical commission.

If the final decision does not confirm severe disability, the sums unduly received for having taken such paid leave will be recovered.

The provisional certificate will remain effective until the final assessment.

In the case of reports subject to review, workers who already hold entitlement to the benefits, as they were previously authorised to use them on the basis of an administrative claim submitted when the report was not yet under review, may continue to receive the same benefits until completion of the medical review process, bearing in mind the following:

• workers for whom the allowance is advanced by the employer:
  • three days of monthly leave (both those taken for themselves and those taken to assist severely disabled family members) and hours of daily rest (taken for themselves).
• If, in the claim submitted with the report still valid, the leave was requested indicating as the expiry date the last day of the month of validity shown in the revised report, or no expiry date was indicated, it is possible to continue to enjoy the benefits in the period between the expiry date of the revised report and the completion of the medical review process, without the need to submit a new claim.

If, in the claim submitted with the report still valid, the leave was requested indicating an expiry date earlier than the last day of the month of validity shown in the revised report, it is possible to take the leave in the period between the expiry date of the revised report and the completion of the medical review process only by submitting a new claim:

• extension of parental leave and paid hourly leave (taken to assist severely disabled children).

It is possible to continue to use these benefits in the period between the expiry date of the revised report and the completion of the medical review process only by submitting a new claim;

• Workers for whom INPS makes direct payment of the allowance: in the period between the expiry date of the revised report and the completion of the medical review process, they must submit a new claim in order to use all the previously listed benefits (three days of monthly leave for themselves or for a severely disabled family member; daily hourly leave for themselves or to assist severely disabled children, extension of parental leave). The obligation to promptly notify INPS and the employer of any changes in the factual and legal situations stated in the claim submitted at the time remains unaffected (INPS Circular of 8 July 2016, No. 127  (in Italian)).

The worker who did not submit an administrative claim when the report was still valid and who therefore is not authorised for the benefits in question, may submit an application to use the benefits between the expiry date of the revised report and the completion of the medical assessment (message of 13 January 2021, No. 93 (in Italian)).

Provided the other requirements laid down by law are met, the claim will be accepted on a provisional basis pending completion of the medical review process. If, following the review, the status of severe disability is confirmed, the claim will be accepted with effect from the date of submission of the relevant application. Otherwise, i.e. if severe disability is not confirmed, the benefit received will have to be repaid.

Dependent workers who use leave to assist a person with severe disability residing in a municipality located at a road distance of more than 150 km from that of their place of residence are required to provide their employer with proof, by means of a travel document or other suitable documentation, that they have reached the place of residence of the person being assisted.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

Claims for paid leave must be submitted online to INPS through the dedicated service.

Alternatively, claims can be made by:

• Calling the contact centre on 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or 06 164 164 from mobile phones.
• On-line services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries of the Institute.

Agricultural workers on a fixed-term contract, in addition to submitting the Claim form only to INPS, must also send the form "Employer’s declaration for the claim for leave requested by Agricultural workers with a disability or for assistance to family members with a disability" (in Italian) for each of the months concerned.

In the case of national/international adoption, it is necessary to provide information relating to:

• date of entry into the family;
• date of adoption/start of foster care;
• date of entry into Italy;
• date of decision;
• competent court;
• reference number of decision.

The obligation to promptly notify INPS and the employer of any changes in the factual and legal situations stated in the claim remains unaffected.

In this regard, it is possible to submit online the request for “Waiver” , which allows workers to renounce, in full or in part, the period requested in the original claim.

It is also possible to change any condition stated in the original claim, without prejudice to the constraints arising from the law, using the “Change claim data” function.

Online notifications of waiver and claim data changes can only be made with reference to claims for benefits being used in the month in which the waiver/change is submitted.

Appeals against decisions rejecting claims for paid leave may be lodged with the provincial committee of the local INPS office competent for the worker’s place of residence. An appeal to the provincial committee does not preclude the possibility of taking legal action.

Read less

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.

Read less