Question – Dearest editorial staff, we have a question we would like you to answer to the following question. We would like to know whether worker that are on dole (lavoratori in mobilità) cannot leave Italy during that period of time or not. Can’t they leave Italy for a short period of time? An Inps memorandum says that they can leave Italy for 15 days in case of marriage, for 5 days in case of familiar mourning and in case of personal or relative’s health matters days are determined on basis of certificates. Is this provided for by law? Is it an Inps interpretation of law?
Thank you very much.
Answer – Unemployment compensation is a provision issued by social security to workers (and without any distinction between non-EU and Italian/EU workers) that are facing collective dismissal.
This matter is very similar to another: are foreign workers allowed to social benefits (which are paid in case of individual unemployment by Inps)?
In this case, if workers leave Italy they are not paid social benefits. Payment starts back when they return to Italy. Whereas in case of collective dismissal, if non-EU workers leave Italy they completely lose benefits, if they being abroad is not justified by the issues stated above.
Do not forget that there are some labour categories that are deeply subjected to unemployment. For instance agriculture workers – and many of them are migrants – are well aware that they are often unemployed though they are surely to soon start back working. Those workers usually go back home during this periods of time.
From a moral and practical point of view we do understand that workers go back home during unemployment, unfortunately things work differently from a legal point of view.
Inps defined directives some years ago. Unemployment benefits are issued only if workers physically live in territory in order to be sure that they do not lose any employment chance. If they leave Italy, they of course will not find any job.
Anyway some years ago there was a controversy on the matter. Labour court in Bologna was the first to sentence: court initially agreed with the worker. Court said that Inps directives were not lawful. Unfortunately during the appeal sentence became exactly the opposite and Inps directives were considered lawful.
In case of collective dismissal benefits are completely lost if foreign workers go back home: benefits are lost during the workers’ absence from Italy but they are also lost when they come back. This is a sort of a sanction.
We only want to underline our personal point of view: this directives are iniquitous. Apart from differences in the treatment of Italian workers that go on holyday and of Albanian, Moroccan, etc. workers that simply go back home for a while, there is substancial iniquity that stands in the different emigration conditions, which depend on workers’ nationality. A Senegalese citizen that needs to go back home has to fly to his/her home country, this means that he/she will occur in border’s controls. Passports are going to show entry/exit stamps. A Croatian citizen can leave Italy only with his/her identity card, this means that passport does not risk to be printed with stamps. These are the only cause of benefits’ loss.
This is the situation, we unfortunately cannot say anything more about the issue.