As the NCBA applicable to trade and commerce employment relationships has recently been renewed, the representatives of the employers and the employees took into specific account, among other things, also the social status of male and female workers, providing for a new leave for women who have suffered gender-based violence. The National Collective Bargain Agreement for trade, distribution, and services companies was recently renewed through an agreement signed on March 22nd, 2024. Among the latest news provided by the relevant NCBA, section 16-bis is particularly interesting, as it is dedicated to women who suffered gender-based violence. More specifically, such leave is intended for female workers who have been included in protection programs pursuant to section 24 of Legislative Decree no. 80/2015 and who hold the relevant documentation attesting to such conditions alternatively issued by the involved residence municipality, anti-violence centre, or shelter. Working women who can provide said documentation shall be entitled to a maximum of 90 working days of absence from work, which can be used in whole or in fraction (on an hourly or daily basis) within three years. Once this timeframe is reached, should the original requirements to benefit from such leave as described above persist even after the initial 90-day period, the leave could be extended for 90 additional days upon requests from the involved employee, under the same conditions. During such a period, the female employee will receive an indemnity based on her last monthly remuneration, which the employer will anticipate, as the latter will be able to balance off such amounts with the sums it will have to pay to INPS through social contribution. Furthermore, the employee's total absence shall figuratively serve company tenure service in all aspects. Therefore, pending the entire leave term, the worker will accrue all the relevant instalments (e.g., for annual leaves, additional monthly salaries, and severance indemnity). The provision at issue requires the involved employee—aside from cases where it is objectively not possible (for instance, when force majeure causes occur)—to notify her employer of her future absence at least seven days prior, clarify the beginning and end of the relevant period, and provide the certification documents mentioned above. Female workers who find themselves in the certified conditions at issue may obtain the transformation of their full-time employment relationship into a part-time one (either vertically or horizontally scheduled) or vice versa. Additionally, the latter shall be granted to be relocated to a different office, even in another municipality, provided the employer’s positive availability check on potential job vacancies that she could be assigned to within seven days of said request.
2024 - Morri Rossetti
