By circular message No. 100/2026, INPS clarifies on the use of the three days of paid monthly leave granted to employees for the purpose of assisting family members with disabilities, specifying the rules applicable where the limits on use set by art. 33, para. 3, of Law No. 104/1992 are breached as a result of i) exceeding the overall limit of three days per month or ii) the simultaneous use of monthly leave days by several worker caregivers to assist the same person with disabilities.
Rules governing paid leave
Art. 33, para. 3, of Law No. 104/1992 grants employees the ‘right to take three days of paid monthly leave covered by notional contributions, including on a continuous basis, in order to assist a person with a severe disability who is not hospitalised on a full-time basis’.
This right is granted provided that, in relation to the worker, the disabled person to be assisted is:
– the spouse;
– the party to a civil union (art. 1, para. 20, of Law No. 76/2016). For the purposes of identifying the party to the civil union, reference must be made to the civil union records registered in the civil status archive;
– a de facto cohabitant (art. 1, para. 36, of Law No. 76/2016). ‘De facto cohabitants’ means ‘two adults who are permanently united by emotional ties as a couple and by mutual moral and material assistance, and who are not bound by relationships of kinship, affinity or adoption, marriage or civil union’.
Without prejudice to the above overall limit of three days, it is explicitly provided that, for the purpose of assisting the same individual with a severe disability, the right to the leave in question may be granted, upon request, also to more than one of the persons listed above, who may take it on an alternative basis between them.
Exceeding the limit of three days per month
INPS specifies that, where entitled workers take the leave in question for more than three days per month in order to assist the same person with disabilities, exceeding the overall limit on use constitutes a breach of law.
Accordingly, where the monthly limit of three days is exceeded among all the workers entitled to leave for the assistance of the same disabled person, INPS is required to recover the undue amount from the worker who took the excess days and/or hours.
Simultaneous use of leave to assist the same person
Similarly, in light of the above principle that the leave in question must be taken on an alternative basis, a breach of law may arise where the leave is taken on the same day and/or during the same hours by several entitled workers for the purpose of assisting the same person with disabilities.
INPS specifies that, in such case, by applying the criterion of proportional allocation of the undue amount among the various beneficiaries, the undue use of the leave is attributed, in equal shares, to all workers who simultaneously benefited from the measure. Accordingly, recovery of the undue benefit is carried out by the Institute:
– against all workers who took the leave on the same day and/or during the same hours;
– by dividing the undue amount into equal shares.
We remain available for any further clarification.