Extraordinary leave: all the precautions to make the most of it

Extraordinary paid leave: how do you make the most of it by splitting it up? This is a benefit recognized by Law 151 of 2001 initially only to parents and then extended to all those who take care of a family member with a serious handicap.
It includes, for a maximum of 24 months, taking paid leave from work to care for a disabled relative.
The only condition required for the request is, in addition to the family member's serious handicap pursuant to Law 104, cohabitation with the same.
The two-year leave can be taken either continuously or divided into days (not hours), in this second case the two years effectively become 730 days which can also be spread over several years.
It is important, in the event of splitting, to ensure that any days of rest (such as Saturday and Sunday) and holidays do not fall into the calculation of the leave in order to use it in the best possible way.
Furthermore, for the purposes of paid leave, it is also important to know the methods for using any holidays due and the regulation of payment in the event of illness.
Precisely in this regard we answer the question of a Money.it reader who writes to us: I would like to know if it is possible to take advantage of the extraordinary leave under law 151 by splitting it so as to work every week from Monday to Wednesday and then return to work the following Monday, Is it mandatory to always work on the same days? I would also like to know if I can take advantage of the holidays by interrupting the extraordinary leave and if I can be absent from the patient's home during this period.
In the event of illness during the leave period, would I be paid by the company or INPS? Greetings, read also Extraordinary leave Law 104/1992: duration and requirements Extraordinary leave: all the precautions to make the most of it How is extraordinary leave divided? Extraordinary leave, can it be interrupted for holidays? Extraordinary leave and sick pay How is extraordinary leave divided? If you decide to apply for extraordinary leave in split mode, it is good to know that the periods in which you will abstain from work must be indicated in the request itself.
In the application, in order to benefit from the benefit, it is necessary to indicate the periods (from/to) in which the leave is taken with payment of the relevant allowance.
It should also be considered that the leave application must be submitted to the INPS in duplicate, one of the two copies is then returned to the applicant who proceeds to deliver it to the employer.
The latter, in fact, has specific competence in the management of permits, while the INPS will only limit itself to granting or denying the benefit itself and to see to the payment of the compensation due.
If we keep in mind, then, that the worker has the right to take advantage of the leave, for the periods indicated in the application, within 60 days from the date of submission of the application, it appears clear that in order to be able to enjoy the period entitled to a request that covers a period of time sufficient to meet the needs of the disabled family member.
Therefore, having to indicate from which day to which day the leave is taken (you cannot submit an application requesting leave only for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week, but you must indicate the start and end date of each fraction of leave), it is logical that the days on which you can be absent from work are those indicated in the request.
Let's take a practical example: I need to request leave, as you wrote, from Monday to Friday of every week of January 2024.
Each fraction must be specified in the application, and specifically: from 1 to 3 January 2024; from 8 to 10 January 2024; from 15 to 17 January 2024; from 22 to 24 January 2024; from 29 to 31 January 2024.
Once this application has been submitted to the INPS and the employer, the days of absence from work will then be those reported on the request and cannot be changed unless a new one is submitted application that modifies and cancels, replacing it, the one previously delivered.
Extraordinary leave, can it be interrupted for holidays? Once requested, leave can be interrupted only in very few specific cases, such as, for example, hospitalization of the disabled person or for maternity.
If, therefore, the leave planning, communicated to the employer, does not include a period in which it is possible to go on holiday by leaving the patient's home, the leave cannot be interrupted.
In any case, since September 2023 the INPS has introduced the new "Variation of application" method which allows you to communicate to the institute the change in the conditions declared in an application already submitted.
The permitted variations also include the period of use.
To learn more about the new functionality made available by INPS, we recommend reading message 3139 of 7 September 2023.
read also Extraordinary leave, how to give the waiver online (and for what periods it is allowed) Extraordinary leave and sickness benefit Illness interrupts the leave, only if certified, provided that no more than 60 days have passed since the start of the abstention from work.
In the case of split leave as illustrated by you, interruption due to illness is always possible.
Who pays the INPS or the employer for the sick leave? For leave, the allowance is recognized directly by the INPS but, as the INPS underlines in circular number 64 of 15 March 2001, an employee cannot receive the allowance for two different institutions (leave and sickness).
The situation is illustrated in the circular as follows: "The occurrence, for the same individual, during the "extraordinary leave", of other events which in themselves could justify abstention from work, does not determine an interruption in the extraordinary leave.
In the case of illness or maternity, however, this is without prejudice to a different explicit wish on the part of the worker aimed at interrupting the use of extraordinary leave, an interruption which may or may not entail, according to the usual rules, the provision of compensation paid by the employee.
INPS; in this case the possibility of enjoying, at a later time, the remainder of the aforementioned extraordinary leave is naturally subject to the submission of a new application.
Regarding whether or not the illness or maternity event that allows the interruption of extraordinary leave can be compensated, it is particularly emphasized that, considering that the use of extraordinary leave involves the suspension of the employment relationship, the compensation is payable only if no more than 60 days have passed since the start of the suspension (generally coinciding, as is known, with the last work performance)".
The illness, therefore, if it occurs within 60 days from the start of the work suspension, allows the leave to be interrupted and is regularly compensated, as when working.