Smart working, from today arrest and fine of up to €7,403 for employers for failure to provide safety information
With the entry into force of the annual SME law, the obligation to deliver at least once a year the written information to employees in agile work that identifies general risks and specific risks associated with
Key points
As of today, the employer risks two to four months' imprisonment and a fine of between EUR 1,708.61 and EUR 7,403.96. for failure to provide the smart working employees (and the employees' safety representatives) with a written notice at least once a year, in which the general risks and specific risks associated with the particular way in which the working relationship is carried out are identified,
The novelties introduced by the SME law
This is the consequence of the entry into force on 7 April of the annual law on small and medium-sized enterprises (no. 34/2026), which made peremptory an obligation already provided for by article 22 of Law no. 81/2017 - introducing a specific penalty regime in the event of non-compliance with the obligation -, as emphasised by the Fondazione Studi Consulenti del Lavoro in an in-depth study on the legislative innovations relating to agile work, which is brought back under the general scope of the prevention regulations of Legislative Decree 81/2008, also known as the Consolidated Law on Safety at Work.
The in-depth study contains operational guidelines and a model report to support companies in complying with the new provisions.
Written information to be provided at least annually
In particular, the standard strengthens the role of written information - to be provided at least annually - as a central tool to ensure health and safety protection in contexts other than company premises, where the employer's direct control is limited. The information must indicate the general and specific risks associated with the agile working mode, with particular attention to the use of video terminals and related risks, such as visual fatigue, postural problems and work-related stress.
The legislator identifies, in fact, in the written information the pivotal instrument through which the fulfilment of the employer's obligations on health and safety is realised in agile work, taking note of the peculiar configuration of agile work, characterised by the absence of direct control by the employer on the environments in which the service is rendered. In such contexts, emphasises the study of labour consultants, the traditional logic of prevention based on direct intervention in the workplace is inevitably attenuated.
