Fragile public workers, the “Zangrillo directive” opens a window of opportunity
On the same day in which the Chamber definitively approved the Budget Law, the Presidency of the Council, through the Minister for Public Administration, issued a directive which opens a window for vulnerable workers who have been excluded from the renewal of smartworking. The speech by Francesco Provinciali
The same day that Parliament approved the 2024 Budget Law – which, among other things, excludes the extension of the protection of smart working for certified fragile public employees, while renewing it for those in the private sector until March 31st pv – the Presidency of the Council – Minister for Public Administration, with Directive of 29 December 2023 signed by Sen. Paolo Zangrillo … " with the aim of raising awareness among the Management of Public Administrations towards a use oriented towards the protection of the subjects most exposed to situations at risk to health, of the flexibility tools that the sector regulations – including the negotiation ones – already allow, it is considered necessary to highlight the need to guarantee, to workers who document serious, urgent and not otherwise reconcilable personal and family health situations, to carry out the work in an agile manner, also derogating from the criterion of the prevalence of carrying out the work in person. Within the organization of each administration, it will therefore be the responsible manager who identifies the organizational measures that are necessary, through specific provisions within the individual agreements, which go in the direction indicated above".
The aforementioned directive allows, with great and perceived sensitivity – which goes beyond the political decision of non-renewal for all public and private workers – to avail of the protection of smartworking, by the fragile subjects involved and delegates to the PA managers who integrate the case of the direct superior – as well as the employer – the evaluation of the circumstances regarding the right of access to this form of protection. The directive therefore overcomes the possible criticism of unequal treatment of fragile certified workers, based only on the public or private contractual profile of work.
It should also be highlighted that the health conditions which until now had allowed us to make use of the provision of agile working were certified as such on the basis of two converging requirements: the inclusion of pathologies which integrated the requirement of frailty in the framework of the Health Ministerial Decree of 4/2/ 2022 and the assessment of the health conditions of the applicants by the competent doctor, after examining the health documentation produced by the interested parties issued by specialized public healthcare facilities. There is no reason to think that these preconditions have been removed nor that different contexts of assessment can be envisaged which have nothing to do e.g. with the evaluation of the fragility requirements, possession of which is also consubstantial with the two aforementioned levels of consideration.
The initiative of the Directive is therefore commendable and its sensitivity and desire to protect fragile subjects from possible overexposure to contagion in community contexts should be appreciated. Furthermore, it is easily understood that the burden of health assessment of the conditions of fragile workers who apply for smart working cannot fall on the managers to whom the employees report, but only on possession of the preconditions for access, through verification of the inclusion of the pathology in the Health Ministerial Decree mentioned and the evaluation – in most cases already expressed – by the competent doctor. This is also in order to avoid disputes regarding the merits of refusals not supported by justified reasons, where this could cause harm to the health of vulnerable workers, which it seems that the 'Zangrillo Directive' wisely wants to avoid.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/lavoratori-fragili-del-pubblico-la-direttiva-zangrillo-apre-uno-spiraglio/ on Sun, 31 Dec 2023 08:45:04 +0000.