As is known, following the Covid-19 health emergency, some categories of workers continued to enjoy a “simplified” regime regarding smart working. On 31.03.2024 the right to flexible working in the private sector will cease for parents of children under the age of 14 and for fragile workers, i.e. […]
The post Agile working: ordinary discipline and individual agreement for everyone appeared first on Centro Studi Castelli.
As is known, following the Covid-19 health emergency, some categories of workers continued to enjoy a “simplified” regime regarding smart working. On 31.03.2024 the right to flexible working in the private sector ceases for parents of children under the age of 14 and for vulnerable workers, i.e. for those employees who, following an assessment by the competent doctor, are more exposed to the Covid risk.
Please note that the simplified regime allowed the adoption of the agile working method even in the absence of individual agreements. This relief, introduced among the first measures aimed at limiting the effects caused by the pandemic emergency, was lastly extended to 31.03.2024 by art.18-bis L. 191/2023, converting the so-called Advances Decree (DL 145 /2023).
Agile working will no longer be considered a worker’s right but will once again become a method of carrying out work performance implemented “with the aim of increasing competitiveness and facilitating the reconciliation of work and life times”, as specified in the art. 18 L. 81/2017, without prejudice to the provisions of c. 3-bis of the same article which recognizes priority for requests to carry out work activities in agile mode for workers with children up to 12 years of age or without age limits in the case of disabled children (art. 3, c. 3 L 104/1992), or for employees with disabilities ascertained pursuant to art. 4, c.1 L. 104/1992 or for caregivers (art. 1, c. 255 L. 205/2017).
Please remember that the art. 19 L. 81/2017 requires the stipulation in written form of an individual agreement between the worker and the employer, for the purposes of administrative regularity and proof, as an essential prerequisite for the use of this working method, in which to seal the will of the parts and, above all, state the elements that characterize the work performance. The agreement must be kept for 5 years by the employer.
Contents of the agile working agreement
On 7.12.2021, the national agile working protocol for the private sector was adopted, which establishes the reference framework, shared between the social partners, for the definition of agile working methods and expresses the guidelines for bargaining national collective, considered a privileged source of regulation. These are the minimum contents:
duration of the agreement, which can be fixed-term or indefinite;
methods of alternating work periods inside and outside company premises;
places possibly excluded for carrying out work outside the company premises;
aspects relating to the execution of the work carried out outside the company premises, also with regard to the forms of exercise of the employer’s managerial power and the conduct that may give rise to the application of disciplinary sanctions in compliance with the regulations provided for in the collective agreements ;
work tools (normally they must be provided by the company and must be suitable for the safe execution of the service);
worker rest times and technical and/or organizational measures necessary to ensure disconnection (specification of a time slot in which the worker does not provide the service);
forms and methods of monitoring work performance outside the company premises, in compliance with the provisions of the art. 4 L. 300/1970 and the legislation on the protection of personal data;
training activities that may be necessary to carry out the work in agile mode;
forms and methods of exercising trade union rights.
The employer must guarantee equal regulatory and economic treatment of workers in agile mode compared to other workers who perform the service in ordinary mode.
Labor Newsletter
Monthly circular for the management of personnel and work relationships, ideal for reading by collaborators and companies.
Discover the subscription
Mandatory communications for agile working
Private employers are required to send the communication of the start of the period of the service in agile mode or extension within 5 days, respectively, from the start of the service in agile mode or from the last day communicated before the extension of the period.
For public employers and administration agencies, the deadline is set by the 20th of the month following the start of the agile activity. From a procedural point of view, communications must be sent electronically through the application called “Agile Work” available on the Servizi Lavoro portal, accessible via SPID and CIE.
In case of failure to comply with these communications, administrative sanctions of 100 to 500 euros are foreseen for the employer for each affected worker.
Workplace safety in smart working
The art. 22 L. 81/2017 provides that the employer, in collaboration with the competent doctor and with the RSPP, guarantees the health and safety of the worker who carries out the service in smart working mode.
The employer provides the worker and the workers’ safety representative, at least annually, with written information in which the general risks and specific risks connected to the particular method of execution of the employment relationship are identified. The worker is required to cooperate in the implementation of the prevention measures prepared by the employer to deal with the risks associated with carrying out the service outside the company premises.
