Country report Gender equality. How are EU rules transposed into national law? Italy

CONTENTS 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 Basic structure of the national legal system ............................................ 5 List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives .......... 6 Sources of law .................................................................................... 7 Main surveys, reports on gender equality and other issues ....................... 8 2 General legal framework .......................................................................... 11 Constitution ...................................................................................... 11 Equal treatment legislation ................................................................. 11 3 Implementation of central concepts ......................................................... 13 Sex/gender/transgender .................................................................... 13 Direct sex discrimination .................................................................... 14 Indirect sex discrimination.................................................................. 16 Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination ......................... 17 Positive action................................................................................... 19 Harassment and sexual harassment..................................................... 22 Instruction to discriminate .................................................................. 24 Other forms of discrimination.............................................................. 24 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 26 Remaining issues............................................................................... 27 4 Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54) ................................................................................................................. 28 General (legal) context....................................................................... 28 Equal pay ......................................................................................... 29 Access to work, working conditions and dismissal .................................. 33 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 37 Remaining issues............................................................................... 39 5 Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, and Directive 2019/1158)...............................................................................41 General (legal) context....................................................................... 41 Pregnancy and maternity protection .................................................... 42 Maternity leave ................................................................................. 45 Adoption leave .................................................................................. 50 Leave in relation to surrogacy ............................................................. 51 Transposition of the Work-Life Balance Directive 2019/1158 in general .... 51 Paternity leave .................................................................................. 55 Parental leave ................................................................................... 58 Carers’ leave..................................................................................... 61 Time off for force majeure .................................................................. 64 Flexible working time arrangements (FWA) ........................................... 65 Legal protection provisions in the Work-Life Balance Directive 2019/1158 69 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 73 Remaining issues............................................................................... 75 6 Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54)..78 General (legal) context....................................................................... 78 Direct and indirect discrimination ........................................................ 78 Personal scope .................................................................................. 78 Material scope................................................................................... 78 Exclusions ........................................................................................ 79 Laws and case law falling under the examples of sex discrimination mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 .......................................... 79 Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 79 Difficulties ........................................................................................ 80 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 80 Remaining issues............................................................................... 80 3 7 Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) ............................. 81 General (legal) context....................................................................... 81 Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security.................................................................... 82 Personal scope .................................................................................. 84 Material scope................................................................................... 84 Exclusions ........................................................................................ 84 Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 84 Difficulties ........................................................................................ 84 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 85 Remaining issues............................................................................... 85 8 Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant provisions of the Recast Directive)........................................................... 86 Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU.............................................. 86 Personal scope .................................................................................. 86 Material scope................................................................................... 87 Positive action................................................................................... 87 Social protection ............................................................................... 88 Maternity benefits.............................................................................. 88 Occupational social security ................................................................ 90 Prohibition of discrimination................................................................ 90 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 90 Remaining issues............................................................................... 91 9 Goods and services (Directive 2004/113) ................................................ 92 General (legal) context....................................................................... 92 Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination ..................................... 92 Material scope................................................................................... 92 Exceptions........................................................................................ 92 Justification of differences in treatment ................................................ 93 Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 93 Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/11393 Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113)...................... 93 Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood ............ 93 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................. 93 Remaining issues............................................................................... 94 10 Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul Convention ............................................................................................... 95 General (legal) context....................................................................... 95 Ratification of the Istanbul Convention ................................................100 11 Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all directives) .............................................................................................. 101 General (legal) context......................................................................101 Victimisation ....................................................................................101 Access to courts ...............................................................................101 Horizontal effect of the applicable law .................................................102 Burden of proof ................................................................................102 Remedies and sanctions ....................................................................103 Equality body ...................................................................................104 Social partners.................................................................................105 Other relevant bodies........................................................................105 Evaluation of implementation.............................................................106 Remaining issues..............................................................................107 12 Overall assessment ................................................................................ 108