Breastfeeding permits, 4 mistakes to avoid on your pay slip

During the first year of the child's life, the working mother, pursuant to article 39 of Legislative Decree number 151 of 26 March 2001, has the right to daily paid rest periods, the so-called "breastfeeding permits", with the possibility of going out from the workplace.
The hours of absence for this reason are financially borne by INPS, with the employer normally paying the amounts in advance in the pay slip on behalf of the Institute.
Breastfeeding permits are granted for the following duration: 2 breaks of 1 hour each (2 hours in total) per day, against a working time (always daily) equal to or greater than 6 hours; 1 rest corresponding to one hour if the daily working time is less than 6 hours.
Furthermore, in the case of twin births, regardless of the number of children born, the rest periods are doubled.
However, if the employer has established a nursery or other suitable facility in the company or in the immediate vicinity, the rest periods are half an hour each.
Having made this useful premise, let's analyze in detail 4 errors to avoid when processing leave on the pay slip.
Leave for breastfeeding, 4 errors to avoid on the pay slip Do not make any deductions from the thirteenth salary Pay attention also to the payment of the fourteenth salary Consider the actual hours and not the contractual one Forget to consider recurring compensation Do not make any deductions from the thirteenth salary During absences for breastfeeding , like what happens, for example, for illnesses and maternity/paternity leave, the right to the thirteenth salary accrues.
The amount relating to the additional monthly payment is borne by INPS which considers it in the calculation of the financial allowance.
Since for breastfeeding permits there is no obligation on the part of the company to integrate the INPS allowance (unlike what happens for illnesses, just to cite an example) when paying the thirteenth month's salary, the company must: Establish the additional monthly salary to be paid by INPS for absences due to breastfeeding; Withhold the fees paid by the Institute from the total amount of the thirteenth paid in the payslip.
It should be noted that the calculation of the thirteenth INPS account necessarily involves all absences linked to breastfeeding permits falling in the period of accrual of the additional monthly payment, normally from 1 January to 31 December.
Let's assume that the worker Irene is entitled, based on the provisions of the applied Ccnl, to a thirteenth salary equal to 2,050.00 euros gross.
At this point the company must recalculate the value of the thirteenth salary paid by INPS for periods of absence linked to breastfeeding permits.
The sum in question must be deducted from the gross amount of the thirteenth salary which will subsequently be subject to: Withholdings for social security and welfare contributions payable by the worker; Tax withholdings for Personal Income Tax (Irpef).
read also Paid leave during pregnancy, what is due for ultrasounds and medical visits? Also pay attention to the payment of the fourteenth.
Given what has just been mentioned, an error would be to make the withholding only on the thirteenth, failing to consider the amounts payable by INPS for the fourteenth month's salary, which is also due to the worker by virtue of the provisions of the Ccnl applied.
Compared to the thirteenth, however, the accrual period of the additional month changes which, as a rule, begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th of the following year.
Therefore, since the reference time frame is different, the sums payable by INPS to be withheld from the fourteenth salary are likely to be different compared to those recovered from the Christmas bonus.
Consider the actual hours and not the contractual ones.
As anticipated, breastfeeding leaves have different daily quantities depending on the hours of the employee concerned.
The company, when it is called upon to attribute the hours of absence to the employees concerned, must not fall into the error of considering the worker's actual working hours.
The attribution of leave, whether it is equal to one hour per day or, conversely, two, depends on the employee's contractual working hours.
It is therefore necessary to refer to the distribution of working hours as defined in the employment contract or in subsequent agreements.
It could happen that the worker, by virtue of a working time flexibility regime, has a part-time weekly schedule (26 hours per week) distributed as follows: Monday 6 hours; Tuesday 5 hours; Wednesday 5 hours; Thursday 5 hours; Friday 5 hours; Saturday and Sunday, non-working.
However, when allocating the hours of leave for breastfeeding relating to Monday, the company must refer to the weekly working hours as defined in the employment contract: Monday 5 hours; Tuesday 5 hours; Wednesday 5 hours; Thursday 5 hours; Friday 6 hours; Saturday and Sunday, non-working.
Consequently, the interested party will be entitled to one hour of rest and not two.
read also Post-partum ban on working mothers: what it is and how it works Forgetting to consider recurring compensation Except for the cases of direct payment of the INPS allowance, it must be paid in advance on the pay slip by the employer and subsequently recovered compared to the contributions to be paid to the Institute with form F24.
Consequently, it is up to the company to calculate the INPS account sums.
It is important to remember that rest hours must be paid as normal working hours.
In this regard, it is necessary to identify the hourly salary to which the accruals (always hourly) of the additional monthly payments (thirteenth and possible fourteenth) are added.
Normally this calculation is carried out correctly by payroll software which can however neglect (and this is where operator intervention is required) other amounts not included in the employee's fixed monthly salary nor considered as additional monthly payments.
We are referring in particular to the recurring items paid to the worker in the pay slip.
In this case it is necessary to identify the corresponding hourly amount in this way: The cited amounts accrued in the (monthly) period in which the employee benefited from breastfeeding leave are identified; The sums in question are divided by the hourly divisor defined by the Ccnl applied; The hourly amount is added to the other amounts to be considered for the calculation of the INPS allowance; The result of hourly salary + additional hourly monthly installments + recurring items (hourly amount) must be multiplied by the hours of absence.