General Questions
Why will employees receive 12 and not 14 payments?
Italian law provides for an annual 13th-month payment in December and a 14th-month payment in June. Instead of paying these as lump sums, we distribute them evenly across 12 months, increasing the employee's monthly salary accordingly.
What is TFR, and why do we need to pay it? Is it required in cases of resignation?
TFR is a mandatory severance equivalent governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Every year, the employer must contribute 7.4% of the annual employee’s salary to a reserve. In Italy, it refers to the end-of-employment benefits or severance pay that employees are entitled to receive upon ending their employment contract. It serves as a form of financial compensation designed to support employees during the transition period when they leave their employment. When an employment relationship ends (due to dismissal, resignation, or retirement), the accrued TFR is paid out to the employee. This is the mandatory pay, as the employee will switch to another end employer. In our current setup, we have been accruing TFR from you on a monthly basis. This means that at the end of employment, the client won't incur additional costs. We will simply pay the employee the amount that has been accumulated to date.
TFR is not deducted from the employee's monthly salary. Instead, the employer calculates and accrues a portion of the employee's annual salary (as per applicable CBA) to set aside for the TFR fund. This amount is part of the overall employment cost for the employer.
At the beginning of employment, the employee chooses where to keep TFR funds. If the employee has decided to keep the funds in the company, they will be paid out at the end of their employment. If the employee has decided to allocate the money to the government fund, then the funds will stay there.
TFR accrues if the employee works for 15 days min.
What are the options for TFR allocation?
Employees can choose to:
Keep TFR in the company
Accrue TFR under the designated NCBA fund (e.g., Fon.Te. for Omnipresent)
Accrue TFR under an open fund of their choice (employee must provide enrollment and payment instructions)
Is TFR subject to tax?
The amount is grossed, it is subject to tax. TFR is taxed at an average rate based on the total income of the last five years of work. This average rate is calculated by dividing the total TFR accrued by the number of years of service and then applying the progressive IRPEF rates in effect at the time the employment relationship ends.
Can you process tax relief for "Rientro dei Cervelli" / "Lavoratori Impatriati"?
Yes. If an employee already benefits from tax relief, it will continue under the new contract. The applicable law depends on when the employee moved back to Italy. Employees must provide auto-certification from their previous employer, or if applying for the first time, we will guide them through the process. For the first time application, additional fee from our tax advisors may apply.
How does an employee resign?
Employees must submit their resignation through the ClickLavoro government website to comply with regulations.
What is the holiday entitlement for employees?
Quadro and below level employees hired through Omnipresent are entitled to:
22 working days of annual leave per year, in accordance with the Commercio e Terziario Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
4 days (32h) of Ex festivita (this is usually used by the employee if they need to go to medical appointment for few hours or they need to run some errands during the working hours) per year. If the employee needs to take a full day for a medical visit, they can either take sick leave in agreement with the doctor or Ex festivita permission.
ROL: full accrual is either 56 or 72h (variable according to employer’s headcount). Full accrual starts once the employee hits 4 years of seniority. 50% accrual starts from year 2. In the first 2 years, the employee will have 0 per month. Then 1/12 of the annual amount per month after 2 years.
Each month the employee can see accruals and the available balance on their payslip. If the workweek runs from Monday to Saturday, the entitlement increases to 26 working days under the CBA.
Based on the NCBA overview provided by Littler, Executive employees in Trade sector are entitled to 26 (Quadro - Confcommercio), 26 (Confcommercio), 30 (Manageritalia) days PLUS the PH.
Can employees sign contracts with Aruba PEC signature?
Yes, Aruba PEC is part of the QES (Qualified Electronic Signature) process, and employees can use it for signing documents.
What happens if a bank holiday falls on a Sunday?
Employees receive one daily salary share for bank holidays that fall on Sundays, as required by Law no. 260/1949. If employees work on a Sunday holiday, they are entitled to overtime pay or compensatory rest.
If an employee has already completed Health & Safety training and a medical check, do they need to do it again?
As the employee will move to another employer, the medical visit needs to be done again. The current one is not valid, as it is linked to another employer. This is not the case with H&S training, they are generic and valid for 5 years. If the employee has a certificate for the training done with the old employer, they do not need to do the training again. Once the period of 5 years validity expires, our local partner will reach out and share the information about the training they need to conduct.
What NCBA applies to this contract?
Under our contract, the applicable CCNLs (National Collective Bargaining Agreements) are:
Commercio (for the client)
Agenzie di somministrazione di lavoro (due to labor leasing regulations)
If the client changes their CCNL, the new agreement will apply.
Can you hire "Dirigente" (executive) level employees?
Yes, we can hire employees at the Dirigente level under our setup.
Questions About Employment Documents
What are the differences between employment documents?
The employment structure consists of multiple agreements:
Leasing Agreement (between Omnipresent and the client) - formalizes the hiring arrangement.
Employment Contract (between Omnipresent and the employee) - establishes the employment relationship.
Assignment Agreement (between Omnipresent and the employee) - assigns the employee to work for the client.
Smart Working Agreement - formalizes remote work conditions.
The licensing regime comprises of three main steps:(1) The client engages Omnipresent to help with the hiring of an employee.
(2) In pursuant to that agreement, Omnipresent legally employs the employee.
(3) During the employment, Omnipresent assigns the employee to work for the client, so that the client will have day-to-day management over the employee’s job
(4) As a starting point, all activities in the course of employment must be carried out in the client’s office under Italian law. To vary this, an additional agreement to work from home / hybrid is required.
Step 1 is dealt with by the Leasing Agreement. This contract is made between the client and Omnipresent, where Omnipresent agrees to hire the employee for the client.
The employment contract is set in place to fulfil step 2.
To implement step 3, the assignment agreement is signed between the employee and Omnipresent, where the employee agrees to be assigned by Omnipresent to work for the client.
To comply with the requirements stated in Step 4, a smart-working agreement is signed.
What is the "Availability Allowance," and when is it paid?
This is the amount that needs to be paid to the employee in the situation where the employee is not assigned to the end emplyer, to you as our client.
The employee will always be assigned to the client due to our nature as an EoR. Availability allowance will therefore most certainly not be payable.The only instance where the employee is not assigned to the client but remains in our employment is where the client no longer wants to use the employee’s services. the necessary months it takes until the termination is effective per the NCBA.
It is mandatory as per local regulations.
According to Italian regulation, if the staff leasing agency hires a (to be leased) employee on an open-ended basis if the assignment shall terminate, the employee is entitled to receive the availability allowance (as stated in the staff leasing agencies NCBA).
In addition, in case of open-ended employment relationship (between the agency and the employee), termination of assignment does not constitute a valid reason to terminate the employment relationship: the staff leasing NCBA, indeed, provides for a specific procedure before terminating the leased employee for objective reasons (i.e. not for disciplinary reasons). To give you a brief recap, the procedure is quite articulated and is aimed at requalifying the employee to different sectors/skills, so as to be able to be employed more easily. The procedure would last 6 months (for employees younger than 50 years old), during which the employee would be paid with an allowance of EUR 1.000,00 per month, (reimbursed to the agency by a specific NCBA fund according to the agreements reached). Failing to perform this procedure (i.e. dismiss the employee before the procedure) could create a liability for the Company to pay the compensation for the entire procedure + 1 monthly installment.
This increase in the "Availability Allowance" does not impact your invoices. As long as the employee remains fully assigned to you under our Employer of Record (EOR) model, the allowance will not be applicable, and you won’t be charged. This allowance is only triggered if the employee is not assigned to work for you, which is not the case here.
Approval is not necessary from the Client’s side as this is in line with Italian legislation on staff leasing agencies and is automatically applied. However, as explained, it does not affect you unless the employee is not assigned to you.
Since this is based on a legal requirement, it cannot be declined. That said, it remains a non-applicable cost for you unless the specific situation of unassignment arises, in which case we would inform you accordingly.
Why is the client’s address listed in the Assignment Letter if the employee works remotely?
In the Smart Working Agreement is agreed that the employee will work remotely, however, we need to have the end client address in the Assignment letter. We have no intention of posting the employee to end client`s address; the smart working agreement is designed to ensure that services can be rendered remotely from Italy.
The smart working agreement provides the necessary flexibility to manage the remote work relationship and ensures compliant onboardings.
Why does the contract refer to a 40-hour workweek for part-time employees?
The Assignment letter in clause 9.1., and on the Leasing agreement in Prospectus mention the 40h, the reason for this is the following: Employee`s salary consists of Min. salary, Contigenza, Function allowance, 3rd element and Bilateral authority - these are the values prescribed by the National Collective Bargaining Agreement and are based on the 40h work week. In the employment contract, we need to show these values. It is clear that the employee will get paid the annual salary according to the shorter hours he has, but these statutory values need to stay unchanged (based on 40h a week).
Can an annual base salary be added to the employment contract?
No, due to Italian regulations, the contract must specify salary in installments. The 13th and 14th months' pay are spread over 12 months to increase the monthly salary.
What happens if an employee works on a bank holiday?
Employees are entitled to either:
30% extra pay + 1 additional day of leave
130% extra pay (instead of compensatory leave)
Who is responsible for H&S and medical checks?
Our local provider handles all H&S and medical check requirements. No action is needed from the client.
Why do we need to sign the Client Terms again?
The updated Labour Leasing Agreement applies only to Italy. The client’s existing terms remain unchanged for other countries.
What are the availability hours in the Smart Working Agreement?
Availability hours indicate when employees must be reachable but do not define strict working hours, allowing flexibility in remote work arrangements.
What is the place of work in the employment contract, address in Bologna? / Can this have tax implication for the employee?
This is the address of Omnipresent, it is considered to be the address where the employee will work if not assigned to the client. Given the EoR structure, the employee will always be assigned to the client; hence, it is the Assignment Agreement (and smart-working agreement) that governs the place of work. The place of work in the employment contract is not as important because it will be very rare for the employee not to be assigned to a client during their employment with an EoR (i.e., us).
Accrual of vacations, paid leave, and reductions in working hours in the Employment contract, what does this means?
Pursuant to Art. 30 of the NCBA for Temporary Agencies, the accrual of vacations, paid leave and reductions in working hours, to the extent provided for by the individual NCBAs applied by the user company, shall be made by applying the following formula for each of the three institutions: [annual hours due/monthly hourly divisor x 12] x (worked hours + due hours) (hours due are those not worked which, when paid, give entitlement to accrual (e.g. sickness, accident, public holidays, etc.).
This clause means that annual leave continues to accrue during sickness, accident and public holidays. Untaken sick leave does not have to be paid out upon exit. Only annual leave that are unused will be due upon termination. Moreover - Italy allows an employee to take 180 days of sick leave during one calendar year (to be calculated starting from the last sick leave).
During sick leave, the employer will shoulder 50% of the salary for the 4th day to 20th of sick leave; 2/3 from 21st day to onwards. The government will also make sick leave payments so that the employee will receive, from both the employer and the government in aggregate:
100% salary for the first three days of sickness;
75% for the 4th day to 20th;
100% from 21st day onwards
What does employment level/groups mean, and how is this decided?
See answer
See answer
In Italy, employees are classified based on the groups and employment level. This is governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and depend on the employees roles. Please find below information on the employment level and groups:
Classification level provided for by the NCBA for Temporary Agencies:
“1. The single classification of agency employees, in order to be harmonised with that provided for by the various NCBA adopted by the user companies, is grouped into 3 main areas in relation to the different professional contents possessed.
2. Also in relation to the provisions of Law No. 190/85, the distinction between middle managers (i.e. quadri) personnel with white-collar duties and personnel with non-white-collar duties, is maintained for the purposes of all the rules (laws, regulations, contractual, trade unions, etc.) that provide for differential treatment or that in any case refer to such qualifications.
3. (…) In view of the specific nature of the professional skills to be used in staff leasing, it is agreed to group employees
into three large homogeneous groups:
Group A: includes workers with high professional content such as executives, middle managers (i.e. quadri) and managerial employees.
Group B: includes conceptual workers, specialised workers and/or corresponding to the so-called intermediate categories with professional content characterised by operational but not decision-making autonomy and a high level of theoretical/practical knowledge.
Group C: includes skilled and orderly workers, who perform work under the guidance and control of others.
4. For the purposes of assigning the contractual classification level for each individual employment relationship, reference must be made, in accordance with the above classification in groups, to the different classification levels/categories envisaged for the specific tasks referred to in the NCBA of the user companies.”.
Group A: Dirigente, Quadro and Impiegato Level 1
Group B: the rest of the employees.
Group C: Blue Collar.
Employment levels:
Dirigenti
The highest level of employment High-level executives who operate with significant autonomy, often acting as the employer’s alter ego. They oversee the management of an enterprise or a major independent division, making strategic decisions and guiding operations2. Unlike other employees, they are not bound by standard dismissal protections or working hour regulations but enjoy higher salaries and benefits.
Quadro level
Employees who perform on a regular basis management functions of relevant importance towards the realization of the company's goals, within the limits of pre-defined company strategies and projects, who may have discretionary powers and management responsibility also for the management and coordination of resources and persons or who are entrusted, with powers of self-determination, responsibility and with high, specialized professional skills, with the research and definition of projects of relevant importance towards the realization of the company's goals.
Level 1
Employees with duties of high professional content, possibly entrusted with executive direction responsibilities, who supervise productive units or an organizational function with powers of initiative and self-determination for operational matters, within the limits of the responsibilities they've been entrusted with. E.g.: system analyst, product manager, media planner, researcher.
Level 2
Employees who perform conceptual duties in conditions of operational autonomy and/or possess functions of coordination and control, as well as staff who use creativity in their work within a specific technical and/or scientific set of skills. E.g.: inspector, programmer, quality control specialist, senior accountant.
Level 3
Employees who perform conceptual or mainly conceptual duties requiring technical knowledge and experience and specialized, skilled workers who, in conditions of operational autonomy within the limit of their duties, perform activities requiring specific and adequate skills acquired with previous technical and practical training. E.g.: administrative accountant, administrative employee, marketing technician.
Level 4
Employees performing operational duties, including sales; employees performing duties requiring specific technical knowledge and technical/practical skills, however acquired. E.g.: retail clerk, basic accountant, truck driver, beautician.
Level 5
Employees performing duties whose execution requires normal knowledge and adequate technical-practical skills, however acquired. E.g.: clerk assistant, typist, archivist, car driver.
Level 6
employees who perform duties requiring simple practical knowledge. E.g.: usher, packager, bellhop, custodian.
Level 7
employees who perform cleaning duties.
Can an annual base salary be added to the employment contract?
The contract clause referring to the payment installments needs to stay unchanged, to stay compliant with the regulations prescribed to the Labour leasing agency. Italian law provides for an annual 13th month payment in December, and a 14th month payment in June. We will pay the accruals of 13th and 14th pay, monthly to the employees, they will be spread over 12 months. In this way, their monthly salary will be increased for the applicable amount. The same principle is applied in the current contract the employees have with our local team.
The employee is working part-time, why does the contract clause refer to the salary reflecting 40 h a week?
The Assignment letter in clause 9.1., and on the Leasing agreement in Prospectus mention the 40h, the reason for this is the following: Employee`s salary consists of Min. salary, Contigenza, Function allowance, 3rd element and Bilateral authority - these are the values prescribed by the National Collective Bargaining Agreement and are based on the 40h work week. In the employment contract, we need to show these values. It is clear that the employee will get paid the annual salary according to the shorter hours he has, but these statutory values need to stay unchanged (based on 40h a week).