Coronavirus (COVID-19) - employment issues in Italy

The Italian government has adopted emergency measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19, or Coronavirus, in Italy. These measures apply to 11 “at-risk” municipalities (in the Lombardy region: Bertonico, Casalpusterlengo, Castelgerundo, Castiglione D'Adda, Codogno, Fombio, Maleo, San Fiorano, Somaglia, Terranova dei Passerini; in the Veneto region: Vò) and six “at-risk” regions (Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Piedmont) until 15 March:

• Remote working automatically applicable - Where possible, employees who reside and/or work in “at-risk” municipalities and regions can work remotely from home, even if the company does not have individual remote working agreements in place with its employees. Companies must, in any case, communicate these remote-working arrangements to the Ministry of Labour through the required online procedures.

• No work for employees in “at-risk” municipalities - All employees who reside in at-risk municipalities and are unable to work remotely are exempt from work (even if they are employed outside of an “at-risk” municipality).

Pending the public authorities’ adoption of further measures, employee absences can be handled as follows:

• Employees who contract the virus or who are under mandatory quarantine - These employees are on sick leave as per applicable collective bargaining agreement rules.

• Employees residing in “at-risk” municipalities - Where possible, these employees can work remotely from home. If they are unable to do so, although several national collective bargaining agreements exclude an employee's right to remuneration for absences due to force majeure, we believe it preferable to put employees who cannot work from home on temporary paid leave at least for this first week and pending further instructions from the Ministry of Labour.

• Employees not residing in “at-risk” municipalities – It is advisable that employees work remotely from home over these next few weeks, even in areas that have not yet been labelled as “at-risk” by the Italian public authorities. If employees are unable to work from home, employers must nevertheless take precautions to protect employee health, including:

  • informing all employees of the instructions provided by the competent authorities (e.g. the Ministry of Health);
  • ensuring hygiene in workplace environments (e.g. by supplying antibacterial gel, gloves and masks, and ensuring that workspaces and surfaces are sanitised);
  • cancelling business trips and business travels to areas/countries at risk;
  • limiting, as much as possible, meetings and gatherings of multiple people in closed spaces, encouraging remote alternative communication methods (e.g. video/conference calls);

We believe that employers can remove, from the workplace, employees with flu-like symptoms or symptoms of respiratory illness (e.g. fever, cough, cold). In such cases, the preferable solution – as specified above – remains that of temporarily placing the employee on paid leave pending further indications from the authorities.

Over the next few days, the government is expected to issue new measures involving Italian social safety net schemes (such as the wages guarantee fund, or cassa integrazione) to aid companies that are forced to suspend normal business activities due to the spread of the virus.

Further information to help employers deal with the outbreak of the coronavirus across our international network available here.

Find out more about Electronic signatures and communications in Italy during COVID-19 here.

See our Coronavirus (COVID-19) feature for more information generally on the possible legal implications of COVID-19.