ITALY - new law on the posting of workers as of 23 July 2016

Source of info: IRU

"The IRU Secretariat has been informed very recently by the Italian Member Associations that a new law on the posting of workers covering also the transport sector entered into force in Italy on 23 July 2016. The implementing decree is yet to be adopted and a number of important issues remain unclear.

1. Scope The main aim of the law is to grant the posted workers the same working and employment conditions (see below) applicable in the country where the posting takes place. This means paying for example the same minimum wage and the days of leave provided by the relevant collective agreement, other provisions include: 1) maximum work periods and minimum rest periods; 2) minimum paid annual holidays; 3) minimum wage packages, including overtime rates; 4) conditions of temporary transfer of workers; 5) health and safety in the workplace; 6) protective measures for certain groups (pregnant women, children and youth); 7) equal treatment for men / women and other provisions on non-discrimination.

Road Transport – the Italian decree specifically mentions only cabotage as falling under the new law. The IRU Secretariat is urgently trying to clarify if also other transport operations are covered.

2. Registration Before each posting, the posting company must send to the Italian Ministry of Labour various information, including the number of workers involved, the date of beginning and end of the posting , the place of performance of the service. More concretely, the enterprise posting workers in Italy is obliged to communicate the posting details before 24:00 of the day preceding the beginning of the posting and to communicate all subsequent modifications within 5 days. Details of this communication will be set by the implementing decree.

3. Document storage During the period of posting and up to 2 years after its termination, the posting company is obliged to store (with a copy in Italian) the employment contract, the payslips, the statements about the start, the end and the duration of working time, the documentation proving the payment of salaries, the public communication concerning the establishment of the employment relationship, the certificate related to the applicable social security legislation.

4. Representative The law it also foresees the appointment of an Italian representative of the undertaking on the national territory. This representative must be able to respond to requests from the enforcement services and must be in possession of a certain number of documents of the undertaking. "