Tightening of the Naspi in case of termination after resignation, all clarifications by the Inps

The Inps clarifies how the squeeze on the Naspi introduced by the Budget law works, which stipulates that the benefit from 2025 will only be provided if the worker who involuntarily loses his or her job after resigning from the previous relationship has accrued at least 13 weeks of contributions in the last employment. "The legislative change, in particular," the Inps explains in a circular, "provides that, for involuntary termination events occurring from 1 January 2025, the benefit claimant must have accrued at least thirteen weeks of contributions since the last termination event of the indefinite employment relationship interrupted by resignation or consensual termination, if such voluntary termination occurred in the twelve months preceding the involuntary termination of the employment relationship for which the Naspi benefit is being claimed.

The rule excludes, however, from voluntary termination hypotheses resignations for just cause, resignations occurring during the protected maternity and paternity period, as well as hypotheses of consensual termination occurring within the framework of the procedure referred to in Article 7 of Law No. 604 of 15 July 1966, which allow access to the Naspi benefit. Among the cases of resignation for just cause (and therefore not covered by the Naspi squeeze-out) is also the case of resignation following the transfer of the employee to another site of the same company, provided that the transfer is not supported by proven technical, organisational and productive reasons, and this regardless of the distance between the employee's residence and the new place of work. Finally, among the cases of consensual termination, there is also the case of consensual termination following the employee's refusal to transfer to another location of the same company that is more than 50 kilometres from the employee's residence or can be reached on average in 80 minutes or more by public transport.

The Inps circular was necessary because the duration of the new requirement could create confusion among those who have to apply for the Naspi. In fact, the main requirement for obtaining unemployment benefits is also 13 weeks. The law that established the Naspi in fact requires that whoever wants to obtain it must have worked at least 13 weeks in the previous four years. These 13 weeks are actually defined as a period of 'useful contribution', which means that not only the days actually worked count for the purpose of counting, but also: credited contributions for compulsory maternity leave; periods of work abroad in countries with a bilateral agreement with Italy (in the case of non-EU countries); periods of abstention from work due to children's illness.