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Coronavirus – le misure da adottare in azienda

13/03/2020

The COVID-19 emergency is imposing significant organisational challenges on companies, especially in light of the recent measure to extend the provisions aimed at containing the contagion to all of Italy.
The Italian Government prepared urgent measures for employers and employees, which are summarised below.
For further clarifications and updates on Coronavirus emergency management, our Law Firm offers assistance and advice on employment law matters.

Protection of health and safety at work
Companies must ensure that the Risk Assessment Document ("DVR”) is adequate to the new scenario, updating and modifying it accordingly to the company's current status.
In this context, new measures must be adopted to reduce exposure to biological risk and, from a formal point of view, the Risk Assessment Document must be updated.
In addition, it is advisable to plan the interventions in consultation with the company doctor and the Prevention and Protection Service Manager.
Moreover, it is recommended to make updates on health and safety issues provided for by Legislative Decree no. 81/2008 in e-learning mode in accordance with the provisions of the State-Regions Agreements in force (Agreement of 2011 on training and updating of workers, and Agreement of 2016, which specifies the rules for e-Learning platforms in Annex II).
Moreover, in general consideration of the public health issue, employers must cooperate with the competent institutions by enforcing their measures to facilitate containment. In this context, the employer will, for example, have to take the following action:
-    circulate information provided by the institutions;
-    promote remote working mode (agile work or "smart working"); 
-    avoid collective meetings in crowded indoor situations.

Simplified smart working
With regard to the execution of the employment relationship, art. 3 of the Prime Ministerial Decree of 23 February 2020 provides that companies may apply to each employee so-called smart working (“lavoro agile”) for the duration of the state of emergency (six months from the resolution of the Council of Ministers of 31 January 2020).
In this case, the employer will not have to stipulate the agreement in writing, but will in any case be required to comply with the provisions of articles 18 to 23 of Law no. 81 of 22 May 2017 (working hours, right to disconnect, use of telematic tools, exercise of organisational and control power, etc.).
Smart working can therefore be activated by means of this simplified procedure: transmitting information on safety at work (provided for by Article 22 of Law 81/2017) by simple e-mail to the employee, using the documentation available on the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) website.
In addition, companies will be required to notify the competent services in a simplified form (with a simple self-certification) for the activation of smart working. Such communication is not mandatory in the case of a simple extension of an existing smart working agreement.
Finally, the employee cannot autonomously decide to adopt smart working since this represents a way of carrying out the relationship that – once the need for an agreement no longer exists – remains a prerogative of the employer.

Employee privacy, no do-it-yourself data collection
Employers cannot collect, in advance and in a systematic and generalised manner, including through specific requests to the individual worker or unauthorised investigations, information on the presence of any signs of influenza among workers and among their close contacts, or within areas outside the work environment.
The investigation into and collection of information on the symptoms typical of Coronavirus and on the recent movements of each individual are the responsibility of healthcare professionals and the civil protection system.
The obligation on the employee to inform the employer of any danger to health and safety at the workplace is left unprejudiced.
In this regard, emergency legislation provides that any person who has been staying during the last 14 days in the areas of epidemiological risk and in municipalities identified by the latest regulatory provisions must notify the territorial health authority through the agency of the family doctor. This authority will be responsible for carrying out the required checks and any special insulation measures.
The employer may, for its part, invite their employees to report that they have travelled to a risk area by facilitating the way such communications are routed, including through dedicated channels. The obligations for the employer to inform the competent entities of any change in the ‘biological’ risk to health at work arising from the Coronavirus are left unprejudiced along with the other tasks related to health surveillance of workers through the competent doctor, such as the possibility to have the most exposed workers undergo an extraordinary medical visit.
Where an employee performing duties that entail contact with the public (e.g. at a front office or service desk) encounters a suspected Coronavirus case, this employee will ensure that the competent health services are informed – including through the employer – and will follow the preventive instructions provided by healthcare professionals.
Therefore, the Italian data protection authority (Garante della Privacy) calls on all data controllers to refrain from undertaking autonomous initiatives aimed at the collection of data on the health of users and workers where such initiatives are not regulated by Law or ordered by the competent bodies.


Support for companies in financial distress
Decree-Law no. 9 of 2020 provided for a number of instruments to support companies that, due to reduced turnover, are forced to resort to wage integration instruments due to suspension or reduction of work activity.
Although it was originally prepared in favour of companies based in the municipalities of the so-called red zone, the Government has announced that it will prepare new measures in this matter, aimed at companies across the whole national territory.
In particular, this Decree provides for:
-    access to the Supplementary Temporary Redundancy Fund for a maximum period of three months;
-    access to the Wage Supplement Fund - SIF for a maximum of three months;
-    possibility of suspension of the Extraordinary Temporary Lay-off Benefits Fund for companies that made use of it before the health emergency and replaced it with the Ordinary Lay-off Fund for a period not exceeding three months;
-    access to the Wages Guarantee Fund by way of derogation for employers in the private sector, including the agricultural sector, which cannot benefit from the current income support instruments for the duration of the suspension of the employment relationship and in any case for a maximum period of three months;
-    allowance of EUR 500 per month, for a maximum period of three months, for workers who carry out their work under a coordinated and continuous cooperation scheme, for commercial agents, professionals and self-employed workers, based on the actual duration of suspension of their activity.
 

Autori

Foto diFabrizio Spagnolo
Fabrizio Spagnolo
Partner
Roma
Foto diFederico Pisani
Federico Pisani
Senior Associate
Roma
Foto diGian Marco Lettieri
Gian Marco Lettieri
Senior Associate
Roma