Here comes the standard that considerably simplifies the communication methods of smart working, compared to the system envisaged by law 81 of 2017, in line with the methods followed up to now during the emergency period (expiring on 31 March).
The amendment to the Sostegni ter decree, prepared by the Ministry of Labor, in implementation of the indications contained in the protocol signed by the social partners last December 7, provides that the employer is required to communicate electronically to the department headed by Andrea Orlando, only the “names of the workers and the start and termination date of work in an agile mode”, and not all the PDFs of the individual agreements signed with the individual workers (which the company must keep in any case).
There was a lot of anticipation among the companies for the amendment prepared by the ministry technicians, which basically all agree. In fact, from next April 1st, the experimental legislation which during the Covid emergency made it possible to resort to smart working through a unilateral communication of the company with a simplified regime for sending communications – in massive format – ends and we will return to the ordinary procedure of Law 81 of 2017, which provides for the use of the individual agreement with the worker.
The effects of the amendment to the Sostegni ter decree
With the intervention in the Sostegni ter after the deadline of 31 March, the individual agreement provided for by the law of 2017 is returned, but the procedures are simplified even in the case of returning from agile work to work in presence (smart working is always reversible) . Failure to notify the ministry will result in the payment of the current fine which varies from 100 to 500 euros for each worker.
“Considering that agile work does not represent a new employment contract, but a way of executing an existing contract, we wanted to follow up on the simplification request made by the social partners contained in the December protocol” explains Professor Pasqualino Albi (full professor of labor law at the University of Pisa and advisor to Minister Orlando).
A ministerial decree awaited
After the approval of the amendment by the Parliament, a ministerial decree with simplified implementation methods is expected. However, it is necessary to deal with the time factor, considering that for Sostegni ter, under examination by the Senate, the conversion into law with publication in the Official Journal is expected by March 28, very close to the end of the current procedure simplified emergency (until the decree is issued it would be appropriate for the government to clarify, even with a faq, that the simplified procedures followed up to now during the pandemic continue). The orientation of the Ministry of Labor is to have a standard model for companies, which employers will have to fill in (without having to attach every single individual agreement that can find its regulation, as well as in the law, in the collective agreement, company or national, and in the guidelines of the protocol of 7 December), with all the information (name of the parties involved, duration of the agreement, any variations).