Wages

Italian law does not give a statutory definition of “wages” and “salary”.

For income tax and social security purposes, any compensation granted to the employee within the scope of the employment relationship, including compensation in kind, is considered wages (this does not include a few limited exceptions, such as expenses reimbursement).

There is no statutory minimum wage in Italy. Minimum wages for each contractual level are usually set out by sector in the relevant national collective agreements (NCAs). A minimum wage is being introduced for workers not currently covered by NCAs, although they account for less than 3% of the total workforce.

There are no statutory bonuses. NCAs may provide for some such as the collective performance bonus (“premi di risultato”) or individual performance bonuses.

There are no statutory allowances, although NCAs provide for transportation allowances or indemnities for certain working arrangements such as on-call work.

Under Italian law, compensation is granted in thirteen (13) monthly installments. The additional 13th install- ment (“tredicesima”) is paid out each year along with the December salary.

Some NCAs provide for a 14th monthly installment, normally paid in June.

The NCAs also normally set the payment date and the calculation basis of the contractual items (e.g. notice period, compensation during illness).

Employers often grant certain employees fringe benefits (for example: a company car and mobile phone to top/middle management and sales positions, luncheon vouchers and internal or external training and education). Employers must fund severance payments for all employees (“Trattamento di Fine Rapporto – TFR”), amounting to 1/13.5 of the annual overall compensation, payable on termination of employment for any reason.

Executives are not subject to the rules governing working hours. Some NCAs provide for a working week of less than 40 hours. Employees must be granted at least one weekly rest day (normally Sunday).

Exceptional and temporary business activities may need employees working on weekly rest days or legal holidays.

Overtime work is considered to be the hours worked exceeding 40 hours per week and may not exceed 8 hours on a weekly basis and 250 hours on a yearly basis. NCAs set specific additional rates to be applied overtime work, and can also replace overpay with additional rest days.

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