Employee sick leave in Italy: how to handle and record it

When an employee falls ill, the company needs to know three things: what to do right away, how to record the absence and how to work with the payroll consultant. Here is the general picture, with one warning: pay during sickness and many details depend on the collective agreement (CCNL) that applies.

What the employee must do

1. Tell the company as soon as possible, normally before working hours start and in the way set by the CCNL or company rules.
2. See a doctor, who issues the sickness certificate electronically and sends it to INPS (the national social security institute). The employee no longer hands in a paper certificate.
3. Give the certificate’s protocol number to the employer, who can then look it up on the INPS website.

What the company must do

• Record the absence with the correct type (“sick leave”, not “leave”) and dates, and update it if the doctor extends the prognosis.
• Not count it as vacation. Sickness does not reduce the vacation balance.
• Pass the data to the payroll consultant at month end, together with other absences.

Medical checks and availability hours

An employee on sick leave must be at home during the time bands when checks can arrive. In the private sector these are 10:00–12:00 and 17:00–19:00, every day including Sundays and holidays. Some situations (for example serious conditions) give a right to exemption. The employer can ask INPS to arrange a check.

Pay and the comporto period

• For the first three days (the waiting period) the INPS allowance is not due; in many collective agreements the company pays something anyway.
• From the fourth day the allowance is paid by INPS, often topped up by the employer under the CCNL.
• The comporto period is the maximum amount of sick leave during which the job is protected: the CCNL sets it. Exceeding it can have consequences, so it needs monitoring.

That is why counting each person’s sick days accurately across the year matters.

The most common mistakes

1. Sick leave recorded as vacation or leave, which uses up balances it shouldn’t.
2. Dates not updated when the prognosis is extended.
3. No check on the comporto, discovered too late.
4. Absences kept outside the timesheet, so the month’s hours don’t add up. On keeping hours and absences together, read the guide on timesheets.

How Chrono Desk does it

In Chrono Desk sick leave is its own absence type, managed in days or hours:

• sick leave doesn’t touch the vacation balance, because absence types have separate balances;
• it shows in the team’s absence calendar and in the timesheet;
• the payroll consultant finds the absence days in the reports by period and employee.

To set up vacation and leave as well, read the guide on vacation and leave or tell us about your case.

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This guide is for information only and does not replace advice from your payroll consultant or the rules of your collective agreement.