Illness allowance

If you are a private sector worker and are temporarily unfit for work due to illness, you are entitled to a specific social security benefit to compensate for the loss of your employment income.

You will be granted this right if you belong to one of the following categories of workers according to the specific legislative framework:

• industrial workers;
• service industry workers;
• agricultural workers;
• trainees;
• suspended or unemployed workers with certain requirements;
• workers in the entertainment arts;
• employed sports workers;
• seafaring workers.

To apply for the benefit, you must ensure that a medical certificate is submitted via the online illness benefit channel of the central reception system (SAC) for use by the treating doctor or, in those rare cases where it was not possible to use the telematic channel, you can send a paper medical certificate directly to the National Social Security Institute (INPS) and your employer within two days of its issue.

Please consult the following chapters of the Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC) to find out under what circumstances and how you can apply, what you are entitled to and who you can contact.

Illness allowance

Relevant legislation

• Constitution of the Italian Republic, Articles 32 and 38 (in Italian)
• Civil Code, Article 2110 (in Italian)
• Law No. 138/1943, on illness (in Italian)
• INAM Board Resolution 10 April 1963
• Law 833/1978 (in Italian)
• Law No. 33/1980, on illness (in Italian)
• Law No. 638 of 11 November 1983, on illness (in Italian)
• Law 311/2004, Article 1, paragraph 149 (in Italian)
• Law No. 488/1999, on illness allowance (in Italian)
• Law No. 296 of 27 December 2006, on illness (in Italian)
• Ministerial Decree 26 March 2008, Article 8 (in Italian)
• Law 183/2010 article 25 (in Italian)
• Inter-ministerial Decree 26 February 2010 (in Italian)
• Inter-ministerial Decree 18 April 2012 (in Italian)
• Law No. 128 of 2 November 2019, on illness (in Italian)