General definition of unemployment and conditions for granting benefits
2.4.1.General definition of unemployment and conditions for granting benefits
2.4.1.1. General definition of unemployment
Registered unemployed persons are persons without work who have registered with the employment services, are seeking work and are available for work immediately.
2.4.1.2. Conditions for granting unemployment benefits
To be able to claim unemployment benefit the person concerned must be registered on a place-ment list and must meet certain requirements.
Workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own qualify for ordinary unemployment benefit if they have been in contributory employment for at least two years, including at least one year during the two-year period immediately preceding unemployment. The benefit is paid for a period of 180 days, reduced to 150 days if the worker resigned or was dismissed as a result of a lock-out on the part of the employer (Law 264 of 29.4.1949).
The allowances consist of a daily benefit of an amount equal to 20% of the wage/salary received during the three months preceding the period of unemployment. The reference wage used to determine this daily benefit is the average wage subject to contributions, and may in no case be less than the wage/salary stipulated in national and provincial branch agreements related to the number of working days.
The worker who, without good reason, does not reply to a summons or refuses permanent employ-ment which meets his/her vocational demands loses entitlement to unemployment benefit.
Everything concerning collective dismissals, the Wage Compensation Fund and redundancy was reformed by Law 223 of 23.7.1991.
In terms of the new regulations, collective dismissals are considered to be those carried out by companies with more than 15 employees and which wish to dismiss at least five workers within a period of 120 days, in the same province, because of a change in their activities or work, or suspension of activities.
With regard to the choice of workers to be made redundant the company must follow certain criteria laid down by law, in the case of a collective agreement, or else the family responsibilities of the worker, his/her length of service and the technical, production and organisational requirements in the company.
A worker laid off because of cutbacks in manpower is entitled, if he/she has not been in the service of the company for less than 12 months (of which at least 6 months must have been effective labour) to a redundancy allowance of an amount equal to the previous special unemployment benefit, i.e. 80% of the wage/salary which he/she received, but which decreases after the first 12 months. This comes to about 64% of the wage/salary.
The maximum durations of payment of benefit are as follows:
- workers under 40 years of age: 12 months;
- workers over 40 years of age: 24 months;
- workers over 50 years of age: 36 months.
These duration limits are increased by 12 months in the Mezzogiorno.
The benefit may not be paid for a period longer than the worker was employed in the company.
For each worker made redundant the company must pay, besides the contributions due, six times the initial monthly redundancy allowance to which these workers are entitled. This is reduced by 50% if the redundancy is based on a trade union agreement. Provision is made for specific reductions if the company seeks permanent positions of employment for the workers made redundant.
The regional employment office draws up a list of redundant workers (so-called "mobility list")which also includes workers who have been laid off following collective dismissals.
Recent regulations include various measures for facilitating the vocational reintegration of redundant workers.
EU – European Commission DG EMPL/A/2 J
II 27,
Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels – Belgium
GHK Consulting Ltd 30 St. Paul's Square, Birmingham. B3 1QZ
E-mail: eeo@ghkint.com
