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Budget law 2022 – Employment news

Italy has published Law no. 234/2021, also known as Budget Law 2022, which includes measures on fiscal matters and new provisions regarding labour law.

Wages and salaries
First and foremost, the Budget Law contains a section dedicated to the changes in the matter of cassa integrazione (i.e. the redundancy fund) and as such amendments to Legislative Decree no. 148/2015.
The Law calls for an enlargement of beneficiary workers and a reduction of the actual work seniority requirement from 90 to 30 days for access to the treatments in question.
In the event of the use of ordinary and extraordinary redundancy payments, as of January 2025, a reduction in the additional contribution has been introduced for 'virtuous' companies (i.e. those that have not used wage supplementation treatments in the 24 months following last use).
Moreover, with effect from 1 January 2022, employers with more than 15 employees who are unable to access solidarity funds will be able to access the extraordinary redundancy fund (CIGS).
The reasons for intervention in the CIGS have also been expanded, enabling companies with programmes that implement transition processes identified and regulated together with the Ministry of Labour and Economic Development can access the fund to ensure employment recovery.

Contribution benefits
Even when companies have hired fixed-term or part-time contract of workers receiving citizenship income, the Budget Law 2022 makes it possible for employers to benefit from contribution relief.
The Law also applies the same contribution exemption for the hiring of workers under 36 years of age to employee hiring during a crisis. In the case of crisis hiring, the exemption is provided regardless of the age of a worker. 

Exemption from redundancy payments
Exemption from the redundancy payment for bankrupt companies that have used the CIGS (i.e. the redundancy fund) is extended for 2022 and 2023. Companies subject to bankruptcy proceedings or under extraordinary administration are also exempt from payment to the INPS Treasury Fund for severance pay relating to remuneration lost as a result of hourly reductions or suspension from work.

Contributory exemption
The Law provides an additional exemption of 0.8% of the IVS contribution for employees for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2022. Some employees, including 'domestic workers', are exempt from this.
In addition, there is a 50% exemption from social security contributions for working mothers returning from compulsory maternity leave.

New procedure for business closures or autonomous departments of large companies
The 2022 Budget Law introduces new burdens for companies that intend to make significant staff reductions.
Companies with more than 250 employees (calculated according to the average number of personnel employed during the previous year, including apprentices and executives) that are planning closure of business activities or even the closure of autonomous departments that will result in lay offs of at least 50 employees must, at least 90 days in advance, communicate these plans in writing to ANPAL, the regions concerned, the concerned trade unions, and the Ministry of Labour and Economic Development.
Within the following 60 days, employers must send a plan, encompassing a period of no more than 12 months, which contains the occupational consequences of this choice.

Apprenticeship
Professional apprenticeships can be used for the hiring of sports workers up to 23 years of age and for the hiring of workers of any age benefiting from the CIGS for the employment recovery of workers at risk.
New restrictions, however, apply to internships.

Preventive communication occasional workers
Companies have until 18 January to inform the Labour Inspectorate of the start of occasional collaborations that began on 21 December and have already been completed, and those in existence on 11 January (regardless of the start date). For collaborations beginning now, however, the communication must be sent according to the ordinary procedure (i.e. before the start of the activity).
In the recently issued Note 29/2022, the National Labour Inspectorate has provided the operating instructions to fulfill the new obligation contained in article 14, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree 81/2008 following the amendment made by article 13 of Decree Law 146/2021.

Authors

Portrait ofFabrizio Spagnolo
Fabrizio Spagnolo
Partner
Rome
Portrait ofFederico Pisani
Federico Pisani
Senior Associate
Rome
Elsa Mora