The legislation before amendments to the PNRR Decree
Before the changes made by the PNRR Decree, the legislation on DURC (represented byarticle 1, paragraph 1175, Law 27 December 2006 number 296) provided that “starting from 1 July 2007, the regulatory and contributory benefits provided for by the legislation on labor and social legislation are subject to the possession, by the employers, of the single contribution regularity document”.
They remain stillstill the paragraph 1175other legal obligations and compliance with national collective agreements and contracts, as well as regional, territorial or company ones, where signed, stipulated by the comparatively more representative employers' and workers' trade union organizations on a national level.
The PNRR Decree and the amendment to paragraph 1175
The PNRR Decree containing “Further urgent provisions for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan” thanks to'article 29, paragraph 1, has retouched the legislation regarding the Single Contribution Regularity Document.
There first news introduced by the PNRR Decree concerns the aforementioned paragraph 1175 from the Law number 296/2006 through which the use of the regulatory and contributory benefits provided for by labor legislation is subordinated to the possession of the DURC, without prejudice to other legal obligations and compliance with collective agreements and contracts.
On this point, the DL adds the provision that the employer must not have incurred any violations “regarding the protection of working conditions as well as health and safety in the workplace identified by decree of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, without prejudice to other legal obligations and compliance with collective agreements and contracts”.
The modification, as underlined by Circular number 4/2024 from the Labor Consultant Studies Foundation, strengthens “the conditions for enjoying the benefits” entrusting “to a further implementing decree the identification of violations in the field of labor and social legislation, including violations regarding the protection of working conditions as well as health and safety in the workplace”.
Pending the adoption of the aforementioned Ministerial Decree, the only violations that subordinate the use of the regulatory and contributory benefits provided for in the field of work and social legislation are those referred to inannex A to the Ministerial decree of 30 January 2015.
Paragraph 1175-bis introduced
As underlined by Study Foundation the “most important innovation introduced by article 29 of Legislative Decree no. 19/2024 consists of the news referred to in the new paragraph 1175-bis”.
The latter predicts that the right to benefits remains unaffected referred to in the previous paragraph, in the event of subsequent regularization of contributory and insurance obligationsbased on the provisions of current legislation, as well as confirmed violations thereof paragraph 1175within the deadlines indicated by the supervisory bodies, on the basis of the specific legal provisions.
In relation to administrative violations that cannot be regularized, the recovery of the benefits provided cannot exceedconcludes the paragraph 1175-bis, double the fined amount reported.
Posthumous regularization
The new paragraph 1175-BIS discipline first of all, in the first period, the possibility of regularizing violations posthumously, even in the event that they have already been ascertained by the supervisory bodies. It is, underlined the Study Foundationof a “provision of great importance“which modifies”the application of paragraph 1175, overcoming the critical issues that have emerged so far during the inspection”.
The CDLs in fact recall the Circular of the National Labor Inspectorate number 3/2017 and the Note number 155/2017, with which the INL specified that violations of other legal obligations are not relevant only if the regularization of the same occurs before the start of any inspection. As anticipated, the provision allows for regularize the contributory and insurance obligations, as well as the violations referred to in paragraph 1175even in the event of verification by the supervisory bodies.
The possibility just described is permitted within the deadlines indicated by the supervisory bodies on the basis of specific legal provisions. The supervisory bodies, therefore, when they ascertain a violation, adopt a disposition measure against the employerpursuant to thearticle 14 of Legislative Decree 23 April 2004, number 124assigning the deadline for regularization. The latter constitutes compliance with the adopted provision and extinguishes the inspection procedure, regarding the violation ascertained and subsequently regularized by the transgressor.
Limit on recovery of benefits
The second period of paragraph 1175-bis provides, in case of administrative sanctions ascertained by the supervisory bodies, which cannot be regularized, theintroduction of a limit to the amount of benefits that can be recovered.
Using this hypothesis, specifies the Study Foundationrecovery”of the benefits provided cannot exceed double the sanctioned amount reported”.
Ultimately, the supervisory body, before proceeding with the recovery of the benefits, is called upon to carry out a preliminary check to understand if the amount is more than double the sanctioned sum reported.