5 November 2025
Executives
Renewal of the national collective agreement for executives in the tertiary sector: more welfare benefits, salary increases and new social protections
“CCNL Dirigenti Industria V012”
On 5 November 2025, Confcommercio and Manageritalia signed the draft agreement for the renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) for executives of companies in the tertiary, distribution and services sectors, effective from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028.
The agreement provides for a total monthly salary increase of €800, distributed in three instalments (from 2026 to 2028), as well as the allocation of an annual welfare credit of €1,500 for the three-year duration of the contract. Additional contribution adjustments to the Mario Negri Fund have also been introduced, along with strengthened insurance and pension coverage for executives.
At regulatory level, the contract features a strong focus on inclusion and sustainability. Companies may enhance the role of senior executives through “active ageing” initiatives and mentoring programmes, in addition to measures supporting work-life balance and parenthood.
Specific attention is also devoted to outplacement policies, gender equality, and pay transparency. The agreement thus consolidates an advanced contractual model capable of combining competitiveness, social responsibility, and organisational well-being.
10 October 2025
Personnel administration
Sick leave: from 2026 new reporting obligations in the Uniemens flow for more accurate INPS adjustment management
INPS
INPS has introduced, effective from the contribution month of January 2026, new rules for reporting sick-leave events and related indemnity adjustments within the Uniemens flow, applicable to employees in the private sector.
The main innovation is the mandatory completion of a daily calendar (<Giorno> element) for each sickness event, in order to improve data consistency between the event, figurative contributions and adjustments. The new structure enables INPS to verify the actual duration of the illness, including cases of short or non-indemnified events.
Employers must correctly indicate the relevant days, distinguishing between the first three waiting days, working days, and weekends, and must also provide – in the <InfoAggEvento> element – the PUC code, the start date or the protocol number of the medical certificate.
Compilation rules for the <DifferenzeAccredito> and <InfoAggCausaliContrib> sections are also updated, with the introduction of new adjustment codes (“0058” for advanced sickness indemnity and “E777” for indemnity differences), replacing code “E775”, which may no longer be used.
INPS aims to ensure greater traceability and accuracy in contribution flows, reducing errors and simplifying the verification of consistency between declared and adjusted amounts. Companies must therefore promptly adapt their payroll and attendance-management systems to comply with the new operational requirements.
17 October 2025
Industrial relations
Multiple business activities: the employer must apply the CCNL consistent with each sector
Supreme Court (Labour Division)
Some employees of a company operating in both the gas-water sector and the waste-management sector requested the application of the collective agreement for waste management instead of the gas-water agreement indicated in their individual employment contracts. Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal rejected the claim, deeming the individual agreements decisive.
The Supreme Court, however, upheld the employees’ appeal, clarifying that under Italian civil law, the effectiveness of a collective agreement stems from contractual autonomy, exercised also via membership in the signatory associations. When an employer carries out multiple economic activities and is registered with the relevant employer organisations, it must apply the collective agreement consistent with each specific sector.
The Court therefore ruled that individual contractual intention cannot derogate – in a way detrimental to the employee – from obligations arising from associational membership or from the actual application of the agreement in force for workers performing similar activities. This principle, the Court notes, ensures equal treatment and compliance with the proportionality of remuneration required by Article 36 of the Constitution, preventing arbitrary choices in selecting the applicable CCNL.
31 January 2025
Incentives
“Mothers’ bonus”: from 2025 the contribution exemption confirmed only for workers with three or more children
INPS
INPS has clarified the duration and scope of the contribution exemption for working mothers (the so-called “Mothers’ Bonus”), introduced by the 2024 Budget Law and subsequently amended by the 2025 Budget Law.
The measure for mothers with two children and permanent employment ended on 31 December 2024. Consequently, as from 1 January 2025, mothers with two children – where the youngest is under ten years of age – are no longer eligible.
However, the exemption remains in force until 31 December 2026 for working mothers with three or more children, employed on a permanent basis. For them, the 100% exemption of the worker’s share of IVS social-security contributions continues to apply, up to an annual limit of €3,000.
INPS further specifies that the benefit may also be granted when the birth, adoption, or foster placement of the third (or subsequent) child occurs in 2025 or 2026, starting from the month of the event.
Lastly, the 2025 Budget Law introduced – pending an implementing decree – a new partial exemption for employed or self-employed mothers with two or more children and an annual income not exceeding €40,000. This measure, however, cannot be combined with the Mothers’ Bonus currently in force for mothers with three or more children.
11 September 2025
Industrial relations
CNEL study shows that the fragmentation of collective agreements in Italy is mostly superficial: 97% of workers are covered by 99 CCNLs
CNEL
CNEL has presented a study on so-called “low-application collective bargaining”, based on data from the National Archive of Collective Labour Agreements. As of 31 December 2024, more than 1,000 national collective agreements had been filed in the private sector. However, only 99 of them – signed by organisations affiliated with the CGIL, CISL, and UIL confederations – apply to 97% of the 14.6 million workers reported in Uniemens flows.
The remaining 632 agreements, signed by organisations not belonging to the confederal system, apply to only 367,000 workers in total.
The study documents a proliferation of agreements formally labelled “national” but lacking real application: more than 400 apply in fewer than 50 companies, and over 300 do not exceed 100 covered workers. Only 28 of these agreements involve more than 1,000 employees.
According to CNEL, the phenomenon appears largely linked to the filing of agreements signed by organisations lacking real representativeness, sometimes used to obtain public visibility through the assignment of a CNEL contract code. The data therefore confirm that the often-discussed contractual fragmentation is mostly superficial and does not substantially affect the structure of the Italian industrial-relations system.
27 October 2025
Dismissal for just cause
Delay in communicating dismissal: no reinstatement, only compensation
Supreme Court (Labour Division)
An employee challenged a disciplinary dismissal, arguing that it had been issued after the deadline set by the collective agreement, thus causing forfeiture of the employer’s disciplinary authority and entitling the worker to reinstatement.
The Court of Appeal acknowledged the lateness of the dismissal and its unlawfulness, but – in the absence of a delay capable of creating a legitimate expectation for the employee – limited the remedy to financial compensation. The Supreme Court confirmed this approach, reiterating that a violation of procedural deadlines in the collective agreement triggers the indemnity remedy under Article 18(6) of the Workers’ Statute but does not automatically entail reinstatement.
According to the Court, only a significant and unjustified delay – capable of undermining the principle of promptness and creating a legitimate expectation that the disciplinary procedure had been closed – can result in the dismissal being void and reinstatement being ordered.
The Court also upheld the employer’s incidental claim regarding the restitution of amounts paid during the enforcement of the overturned judgment, clarifying that this right arises automatically upon reversal of the first-instance decision.
7 October 2025
Dismissal for exceeding the sick-leave period (“comporto”)
Dismissal for excessive sick leave: “particularly serious illness” must be evidenced in the medical certificate
Supreme Court (Labour Division)
An employee challenged a dismissal for exceeding the sick-leave period, arguing that some absences should not be counted because they were due to a serious illness requiring life-saving treatment. The Court of Appeal rejected the claim, holding that the medical documentation submitted did not certify the existence of a “serious illness requiring life-saving treatment” as required under Article 63 of the CCNL for Logistics, Freight Transport and Shipping.
The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling, stating that the burden of proving the seriousness of the illness and the need for life-saving treatment rests with the employee and must be met through proper medical certification. Informal communications or messages sent to the employer are insufficient, as they have no medico-legal value.
The Court also clarified that the concept of “particularly serious illness” is a general clause that must be interpreted based on the contractual text and scientific developments, but always with reference to conditions requiring treatments essential for survival or for significantly improving quality of life.
Accordingly, in the absence of appropriate medical certification explicitly indicating a serious illness requiring life-saving therapy, the employer may legitimately count all days of absence in calculating the comporto and may proceed with dismissal once the contractual limit is exceeded.
