Labour Consultancy

According to data provided by Agcm – the Competition and Market Authority – during the first 8 months of 2016 a total of 616 companies were granted the legality rating, up from 434 attributions in the same period of 2015. The rating was created in 2012 with the aim of promoting ethical principles in business behavior among Italian companies, pursuant to the Conversion Law of Decree Law No. 29/2012. It is an evaluation system that Agcm uses to assess the ethical and legal reliability of companies, which, if compliant with legal and quality requirements, can access public and bank financing. It is evident that the market needs companies that operate legally and are certified, which is where the Asse.Co. asseveration fits in.

Employers and employees are protected from disputes with Asse.Co. Undeclared work remains on the radar of the Ministry of Labour’s inspection activity, but thanks to the asseveration of labour relations, labour consultants attempt both to encourage regular work and to help the ministry’s inspection activity. Companies with Asse.Co. can get two immediate benefits: less chance of being inspected and assurance of the company’s position regularity, if the company is among those randomly selected.

Following the Protocol Agreement signed between the Ministry of Labour and the National Order Council, the platform prepared by the Fondazione Studi Consulenti del Lavoro is in place, which allows consultants to “asseverate” the contributory and retributive regularity of companies in the management of employment relations, simplifying fulfillment and at the same time promoting the culture of legality. By getting contributory and salary compliance, “certified” companies become part of the selection criteria of the inspection activity of the Ministry of Labour, which will take into account “asseverated” companies in the definition of inspections and may also use the asseveration to verify the regularity of companies in private contracts.

Asse.Co. will be issued by the National Order Council, upon the employer’s voluntary application, on the basis of two responsibility declarations: one from the employer on the non-occurrence of offenses during the year preceding the application (child labour, working time, safety at work, undeclared work); the other from the Labour Consultant on the compliance with the requirements for the issuance of the Durc and compliance with collective bargaining. The list of companies getting the asseveration will be published on the website of the Ministry of Labour and the Labour Consultants’ National Order Council.

The “certifying” Consultant, on the one hand, represents legality due to the Order membership subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and, on the other hand, for knowledge and preparation. In order to issue the Asse.Co., the labour consultant must attend an e-learning training course, available on the same platform, at the end of which a training certificate is issued, which gives access to the Asse.Co. procedure in order to begin the Certification process.