Agricultural unemployment: allowance paid in a single payment for employed agricultural workers

Not due:

• if the claim is submitted after the deadline;
• to the members of the autonomous pension schemes or the Separate Pension Scheme:
  • for the whole year;
  • for part of the year but with a number of working days higher than those of employed work that fall within the registration period;
• those who already have a direct pension on 1 January of the year relevant to the benefit. In the event of retirement during the year, the allowance is recalculated with respect to the number of months preceding the pension;
• if the non-agricultural employed work activity is prevalent in the year or two years prior to the claim;
• in the event of voluntary resignation. With the exclusion of working mothers or working fathers who resign:
  • during the period following childbirth;
  • for just cause;
• those who are non-EU citizens with a residence permit for seasonal work.
  

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WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

The amount, paid in a single payment directly by INPS, is equal to:

• for fixed-term agricultural workers, at 40% of the reference remuneration, with a deduction of 9% as a social security contribution, for a maximum of 150 days;
• for permanent agricultural workers, at 30% of the actual remuneration, without a deduction for social security contributions.

Imputed contribution

The payment of the benefit determines the crediting of imputed contribution:

• calculated by subtracting from parameter 270 (whole year for pension purposes) the days worked and those already compensated for other reasons;
• useful for the purposes of the right and for measuring old-age, disability and survivors' pensions;
• useful, for the first 90 days, for the purpose of measuring the early pension in the year relevant to the benefit, for those enrolled:
  • in the list of names for at least 101 days;
  • with agricultural and any non-agricultural employed work carried out for more than 150 days.

Recognition of the Allowance Due to the Family Unit (ANF)

At the time of submitting the claim, the interested party may claim the Allowance Due to the Family Unit (ANF) within the retroactive limitation period of five years.

Income and family composition requirements are the same as those required for all employed workers.

The INPS pays the ANF:

• on the unemployment benefit due;
• on employed work carried out in the agricultural sector (for fixed-term agricultural workers)     . 

For fixed-term agricultural workers with less than 101 days of agricultural work, the ANF is due for:

• the days actually worked, plus the percentage of days due for annual leave and public holidays (13.78%);
• for all days of unemployment covered by imputed contributions, subtracting from the parameter 270 the days worked and those compensated for other reasons up to a maximum of 180 days.

For fixed-term agricultural workers with a number equal to or greater than 101 days of agricultural work, the ANF is due for the entire year (312 days) for the work performed.

The Allowance Due to the Family Unit also covers days of inactivity, caused by:

• an accident in the workplace or occupational disease (allowance paid for the entire period of absolute temporary disability acknowledged by INAIL (National Insurance Institute for Employment), up to a maximum of three months);
• illness (allowance paid for the entire period for which illness allowance is paid);
• pregnancy and the period following childbirth.

In this case, the agricultural worker:

• submits the claim with form (SR15);
• is registered or entitled to be registered in agricultural lists for a number of days equalling no less than 51 days;
• must have worked for at least 6 days in agriculture in the 30 days prior to the occurrence of the event. 

In light of Italian Legislative Decree no. 230/2021 which established the single and universal allowance for dependent children, from 1 March 2023 the allowance due to the family unit is repealed limited to family units with children and orphans. 

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If you meet the requirements, resignation does not preclude the right to the allowance, in the case of:

• working mothers who resign during the period in which there is a prohibition on dismissal (300 days before the presumed date of birth, from the date of gestation and until the child reaches one year of age);
• working fathers who resign during the period of paternity leave and until the child reaches one year of age.

For workers who resign for just cause, it provides for the payment of ordinary unemployment benefit (Constitutional Court ruling 269/2002). The cases envisaged are: 

• non-payment of remuneration;
• sexual harassment in the workplace;
• changes in work duties leading to worse conditions;
• mobbing, breakdown of the worker’s psycho-physical balance due to oppressive behaviour by hierarchical superiors or colleagues;
• significant changes in working conditions, following the sale to other parties (individuals or legal institutions) of the company;
• change of the worker's place of work, without proven technical, organisational and production reasons;
• offensive behaviour displayed by the hierarchical superior towards the employee.

In the event of resignation due to non-payment of remuneration, the worker must attach to the claim:

• the declaration in lieu of affidavit (warnings, accusations, complaints, urgent appeals pursuant to Article 700 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, rulings or any other suitable document), showing their willingness to defend themselves in court against an employer's unlawful behaviour;
• the outcome of the dispute settled in or out of court.

INPS shall recover any allowance paid if:

• the outcome of the dispute does not acknowledge the just cause for resignation;
• after a dismissal ruled as unlawful, the worker is reinstated in the workplace.

Unemployment benefit may also be recognised in the event of:

• dismissal with acceptance of the conciliation offer (Article 6, Legislative Decree no. 23/2015). The employer may offer the worker, within the terms of an out-of-court appeal against the dismissal, an amount that does not constitute taxable income and is not subject to social security contributions. The acceptance by the worker does not change the reasoning given for the termination of the employment relationship which remains the dismissal and involves:
  • the extinction of the employment relationship on the date of dismissal;
  • the waiver of the right to appeal against dismissal. 
• involuntary unemployment due to a unilateral act of dismissal by the employer;
• workers dismissed for disciplinary reasons. In this case, the termination of the employment relationship does not fall within the cases of voluntary unemployment because the sanctioning measure of dismissal is not an automatic consequence of the disciplinary offence but is linked to the discretion of the employer.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

The claim for the agricultural unemployment benefit must be submitted:

• by the interested party or their heirs from 1 January and by 31 March of the year following that in which the unemployment event occurred, on pain of forfeiture of the right;
• the first working day following the deadline indicated above, if this should coincide with a Sunday or public holiday.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

The claim may be submitted to INPS online, by logging in with your credentials.

Alternatively:

• by contacting the Contact centre via the toll-free number 803 164 (free of charge from landlines) or 06 164 164 (from mobile network, with the tariff applied by the telephone operator);
• by contacting the patronage institutes, using the online services offered by them.

The allowance is paid directly by INPS:

• by crediting a current bank account or current postal account;
• by crediting a post office savings account;
• through a payment card with an IBAN
• by direct debit bank transfer at a post office in the same postal code (CAP) as the applicant's residence or domicile.

In the case of payment on a current account/postal office savings book/payment card, it is necessary to indicate the IBAN, which must be in the name of or jointly with the claimant for the benefit.

According to current regulations, public administrations cannot make payments in cash for benefits of a net amount exceeding one thousand euro.

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

In addition to the terms for the issuance of the decision, the table also indicates the relevant manager.

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