“A patient with metastatic cancer can return to work and enjoys a package of rights that are inspired by the need to protect health conditions, allow participation in working life and the exercise of one’s professionalism”. This is how Domenico Tambasco, a labor lawyer, explains to Adnkronos the rights of people who can return to work thanks to new oncological therapies that lead, if not to a complete cure, to the chronicization of a disease such as metastatic breast cancer. (Video)
“There are various rights – continues Tambasco – but the most important is the right to transform the employment relationship from full to part time. This is provided for in the case in which the chronic pathology is a degenerative pathology, that is, characterized by a progressive and gradual worsening, and above all the pathology and the disability are ascertained by the medical commission at the territorially competent health company. When these two requirements occur, what arises is not a right of the patient or the sick person, but – he specifies – a real right to request the employer to transform the employment relationship. It is then up to the employer to decide on the quantification of the reduction in hours”. A second right, “also very important where the health conditions are those provided for by law 104 of 1992 – explains the lawyer – is represented by the granting of work permits, in particular 3 days per month that can be divided into hours, and 2 hours per day, which become one if the hours are less than 6 hours. Furthermore, in the case of recognition of civil invalidity, with a reduction in working capacity greater than 50%, it is then possible to benefit, even on a non-continuous basis, from a leave for a period not exceeding 30 days, during the year. Also important are the rights, always provided for by law 104”, to the assignment “of the workplace closest to the place of residence, as well as the prohibition of transfer and the prohibition” of carrying out “night work”.
Also very important is “the recognition that Italian legislation provides for caregivers, that is, those who take care of cancer patients – Tambasco specifies – who are entitled to 2 years of extraordinary paid leave if they are spouses, children, parents or in-laws. Finally, patients are recognized as having the right to request that work be carried out according to agile working methods (smart working). The employer therefore has the duty, pursuant to article 2087 of the consolidated law on safety, to protect the psychophysical integrity of the patient by assigning the most suitable working methods, with respect to his/her conditions, also through reasonable accommodations, as specifically provided for by anti-discrimination legislation. To this end, the assessment of the competent doctor could be decisive”.
The assessment and protection against stress factors is also central, as recently indicated not only by legislation, but also by case law. “Recent rulings by the Court of Cassation, even from a few months ago – the labor lawyer clarifies – have identified the obligation not only to prevent, but also to combat stress factors. In particular, Italian law (art. 28 paragraph I of the Consolidated Law on Safety) provides for the obligation, for the employer, to make a careful assessment of the possible risks from stress that may arise for the worker and the duty to remove stress factors. It is a central duty of the employer that can also be sanctioned with compensation for damages”.
In order to protect against possible reprisals and reprisals against workers who are affected by serious illnesses, “Italian legislation provides incisive protections – observes Tambasco – The anti-discrimination legislation, in particular Legislative Decree 216 of 2003, even provides for the absolute nullity and removal of retaliatory and discriminatory measures, acts and behaviors against these individuals, up to the point of compensation for damages with a deterrent function. Moreover, the employer has the duty to implement “everything that is necessary at an organizational level for the performance of the work “based on the new capabilities of the worker and therefore also protection against possible reprisals or reprisals. This protection derives from European legislation that was then implemented by Italian legislation”.
In this context, “measures at a regional level are also essential, such as calls for the recovery or acquisition of new work skills, to change tasks, and the financing of counseling courses. The plan to combat and fight cancer, including obviously the metastatic form – Tambasco points out – is a recommendation of the European Commission of 2001 that pushes member states to implement the necessary measures to allow maximum integration of patients and cancer patients in the context of the employment relationship. Virtuous practices are therefore widespread in the EU thanks above all to a type of regulation that seeks to equalize, standardize, all countries – concludes the labor lawyer – with a unitary view of combating this type of phenomenon”. Further information on the topic is available on the website ‘E’ tempo di Vita’.
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