Lawyers International Network for Employees and Executives (LINEE)

COVID-19

Telework, Smart Work, and the Right to Disconnect in Italy

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In our previous post, we explained the European Union’s pre- and post-pandemic protections of the changing workplace, including remoting arrangements. In this post, we explore the measures our home country—Italy—has taken.

Regulating Telework in Italy: Pre-COVID-19

According to Eurofound (2020), while only 10% worked from home at least several times a week before the pandemic (compared to 15.8% on average in the EU-27), the first wave of the pandemic brought this number to 39.9% (compared to 36.5% on average in the EU-27). This makes Italy among the Member States with the highest increases in the share of workers (18+) working from home during the pandemic.

Smart Working and the Right to Disconnect in Italy Read more.

Telework: A European Approach to Protecting Workers

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Teleworking is likely to become much more common following the increase in telework since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, more extensive telework poses complicated threats to workers due to blurred work-life boundaries, extensive screen time, and a lack of social support found in office environments.

This emphasizes the importance of introducing “right to disconnect” initiatives to avoid large segments of workers being at risk of physical and emotional exhaustion.

Overview of the Uptick in Remote Work

According to estimates by the Eurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions), nearly 40% of workers in the EU began to work remotely due to the pandemic in 2020, with the percentage of remote workers growing nearly 34% compared to 2019. Read more.

Wendi Lazar and Cody Yorke Discuss “New Expatriate Employees” in Reuters Legal News

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Nearly two years have passed since nations began closing their borders to control the spread of COVID-19 among their local populations. Working remotely in foreign countries made it easier for many employees to take care of families, home-school their children, and be with faraway relatives. Now, what may have initially been an experiment or stopgap measure has become the preferred work-life existence for these expat workers.

But making a temporary international remote work arrangement a permanent situation poses legal consequences affecting compensation, income taxes, job benefits, and healthcare. Multinational workers and their employers need to know their rights and responsibilities, which can be difficult without knowing if the host countries’ or home countries’ laws apply to their employment relationships.

Outten & Golden partner Wendi Lazar and associate Cody Yorke routinely counsel clients on expatriate employment issues. Reuters Legal News recently published an article in which they discuss the issues remote workers and employers should consider when contemplating remote work abroad. Read more.

Germany’s Approach to Short-Time Work Is a Key to Weathering Economic Emergencies

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During the last economic crisis in 2009, Germany was already respected worldwide for its crisis management and its approach to short-time work benefits (“Kurzarbeit”) specifically. The co-determination regulations on Kurzarbeit significantly helped Germany overcome the emergency like no other country, and it laid essential foundations for post-crisis economic growth. 

Short-time work was a vital factor in Germany’s ability to weather the 2009 economic crisis and gather crucial resources to bounce back. Because of this positive experience, the German government has not hesitated to turn to Kurzarbeit during the COVID-19 pandemic to relieve small and medium-sized enterprises that continue to face financial hardship. To this end, the federal government has lowered formal hurdles to the introduction of short-time work and expanded its room to maneuver.

The Prohibition of Employment Dismissals in Italy Following the August Decree

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The severe economic crisis caused by the coronavirus emergency has placed national governments at a crossroad, forcing them to determine whether it is more appropriate to protect the needs of entrepreneurs or workers. The first choice would allow employers to exercise provisions in Italy regarding an employee’s dismissal if a company is in economic difficulty. In the second scenario, the government could defend employees by adopting measures to stem what, in times of economic hardship, can be considered a natural increase in the unemployment rate.

Faced with this issue, the major industrialized countries have not moved in a single direction. Within Europe, it is possible to distinguish between countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom that have decided not to impose any prohibition on dismissal, and nations with a more “socialist” tradition such as France and Spain that have instead placed limitations on firing employees (without, however, providing any ban on redundancies in the strict sense).

Considered in this framework, Italy appears isolated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Italian government has chosen to proceed with freezing layoffs for economic reasons until 17 August 2020, with the enactment of the “Cura Italia Decree.” Read more.

How Videoconferencing Has Become Part of the “New Normal” in the Practice of Law

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The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide crisis of epic proportions. It has created enormous challenges, some of which are apparent, such as health and economic impacts that are without equal in our lifetimes. More challenges undoubtedly await us, some of which we may not even imagine. On the other hand, the crisis may present opportunities for us to learn and to improve in our personal and professional lives.

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy may have exercised some poetic license in that quote, but it serves as a useful rhetorical device here. In short, out of a crisis can come opportunities. Read more.

Reopening the Workplace: A Gender Perspective on the Economic Fallout of COVID-19

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The COVID-19 coronavirus doesn’t discriminate between men and women, but the same can’t be said of the pandemic’s impact on the U.S. workforce.

Traditional support for women at work has been drastically reduced, if not eliminated, during the crisis. Women have had to reorient to working from home while balancing family responsibilities, including childcare and home schooling. Admittedly, both male and female parents have had to face these challenges, but women have shouldered a disproportionate share of the burden.

Over the past 25 years, legislators and employers have implemented measures to assist the growing percentage of working women. By exploring early childhood programs, daycare, flexible hours, and job sharing these efforts have encouraged co-parenting, offered assistance to single parents, and created greater work-life balance. The COVID-19 outbreak eliminated these supports, and it’s anyone’s guess when these efforts will resume. Read more.

Pandemics are Global, Work Cultures Are Not

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The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has proven beyond a doubt that economies and workforces are global. During the past few months, unemployment has increased by an alarming rate. Those employees who still have work have had to make sacrifices as they shift to telecommuting and try to remain productive during a tumultuous time. In case there was any lingering doubt, 21st-century companies depend on global markets in order to survive. This said, it is critical for businesses to understand how different cultures shape international and cross-cultural work.

This paper will outline how differences between Italian and American cultures have led to the creation of divergent work styles, how new methods such as smart working or telecommuting have been implemented within the U.S. and Italy, and what those differences mean for life after the coronavirus pandemic.

Work Culture in Italy and the U.S.

It comes as no surprise that European and American cultures are vastly different. The cultural contrast between Europe and the U.S. are apparent even when it comes to work-life balance. A 2012 report conducted by the European Union revealed that not only did Europeans tend to work fewer hours than Americans, but their most important personal values were health, followed by love, and finally work. This deeply contradicts U.S. cultural values. Read more.

Working From Home in France After COVID-19

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The current COVID-19 crisis has had consequences on employment conditions in France. Before the pandemic, working from the company’s premises was the rule, while working from a home office was the exception.

Over the last few years, there has been an emerging trend in favor of home offices, facilitated in particular by transportation strikes, the need to save on office rents, and other factors. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated this process. Overnight, most employees have had to work from home, and companies had no choice but to adapt quickly to this situation.

Once operations return to normal, companies willing to implement or permanently facilitate remote working will have to comply with the following rules: Read more.

Expats and COVID-19: Global Employees at Risk and in Limbo

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The coronavirus has hit multinational employees hard in every part of the world. U.S. expatriates living abroad and E.U. expats working in the U.S. have been subject to travel bans, embassy closures, shelter-in-place orders, widespread work shutdowns, mass terminations, and furloughs on both sides of the pond and around the globe. New laws and regulations in their home and host countries offer substantive benefits for employees who are forced to work remotely, caring for sick children and family members, or caring for themselves if struck with the COVID-19 virus.

Figuring out if and how these laws apply can be daunting to expatriate workers at all levels. Having legal employment counsel involved in helping to make decisions as well as coordinating the expats’ legal and financial needs with other professionals is key.

Immigration Challenges

Immigration regulations in the U.S. and most of Europe are at a standstill, with no incentive for governments to change the status quo because of the high unemployment rates affecting their own citizens. U.S. embassies in many countries have closed and have stopped processing visas outright. Read more.

The “Cura Italia” Decree and the Injection of Liquidity to Support Italy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Italian government enacted a new and powerful economic plan – the “Cura Italia” – on March 17, 2020, sending Italian citizens a strong message of solidarity and support to Italian citizens. The Decree allocates a liquidity injection of some €25 billion in aid for workers, businesses, and families through a liquidity injection to support the economy.

How the Cura Italia Addresses Employment and the Workplace

The most significant portion of the aid will be allocated to reinforce social safety nets, including people who, under ordinary conditions, could not access those benefits. Among the measures are:

  • Extending the Ordinary Earnings Supplement Fund and implementing a simplified procedure for all companies that intend to adopt the ordinary layoff. This includes a mechanism for derogating from the maximum limit (currently 24 months);
  • Extending and upgrading the Redundancy Fund in Exception for employers with fewer than six employees (even just one employee). This includes sectors covered by the Ordinary Earnings Supplement Fund and not protected by Solidarity Funds, such as services and logistics;
  • An appropriation of €500 million for the Wage Integration Fund for micro-enterprises employing between one and five employees who cannot count on social safety nets.

Special Rules Regarding Ordinary Salary Integration and Ordinary Allowance

In 2020, employers who suspend or reduce their work due to events attributable to the COVID-19 emergency can apply for ordinary salary integration or access to the ordinary allowance for a maximum duration of nine weeks (ending August 2020). Applications can be submitted by the end of the fourth month following the one in which the period of suspension or reduction of work began. Read more.