10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835
The Republic of San Marino, one of the smallest Countries in the world, introduced several emergency measures to contrast virus spread, supporting subordinate workers and families. The regular labour law measures have not been altered, with the exception of the employment retention schemes and income reductions.
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Leonardo Battista
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COVID-19 and Labour Law: Republic of San Marino
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National Reports
2020-04-18
2020-04-17
2020-04-15
2020-09-15
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Leonardo Battista
2020/04/18
10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835
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Cross-border workers
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COVID-19 and Labour Law: Republic of San Marino
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COVID-19 and Labour Law: Republic of San Marino                                   Italian Labour Law e-Journal
Leonardo Battista                                                                Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
leonardo.battista2@unibo.it                                        Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                               ISSN 1561-8048
                                                                https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835




     COVID-19 and Labour Law: Republic of San Marino
                   Leonardo Battista*

                                                  Abstract

     The Republic of San Marino, one of the smallest Countries in the world, introduced several
     emergency measures to contrast virus spread, supporting subordinate workers and families.
     The regular labour law measures have not been altered, with the exception of the employment
     retention schemes and income reductions.


     Keywords: Covid-19; Labour Law; Telework; Employment retention scheme; Cross-border
     workers.



 1. General framework

     Since the first Italian case of COVID-19, the Republic of San Marino introduced several
 emergency measures to contrast virus spread. Due to its geographical position, being a
 landlocked enclave surrounded by Italy, the Republic of San Marino has been one of the
 first Countries in Europe to adopt lockdown measures and labour law restrictions. The
 intense diplomatic and economic connection with Italy, the cultural closeness and the
 geographical position could easily explain the similarity in terms of contents and timing of
 the measures adopted by the Republic of San Marino.


 2. Measures enacted in the Republic of San Marino in order to prevent and to
 control the spread of disease COVID-19

    On the 8th of March, a Decree on urgent containment measures was adopted. The
 decree stipulated that, during the emergency, public and private employers should evaluate
 the possibility to enable employees to perform activities outside their premises (work on
 distance and work from home)1. Telework arrangements, viable only for subordinate
 workers, could be stipulated with an agreement between employer and employee notified
 to the social partners. This provision stressed the fact that this arrangement is only


 *
  PhD Candidate in European Union Law, University of Bologna, Italy.
 1Law Decree no. 44, 8 March 2020, Art. 1(e). Decrees and provisions referred in this national report can be
 downloaded, in Italian, at the link: https://www.consigliograndeegenerale.sm/on-line/home/archivio-leggi-
 decreti-e-regolamenti.html
    Leonardo Battista                                                              Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                                  Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                     Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                       Section: National Reports




temporary and limited to the emergency period, in order to avoid abuses. Workers enabled
to telework are excluded by employment retention schemes.
    Employers that are not technically able to promote teleworking are obliged to promote,
among their workers, the fruition of paid leaves. In terms of leaves, a more stringent
provision applied to Public Employment with the possibility to use non-paid leaves for
workers that already used the paid ones during 2020.
    The same Decree imposed social distancing, a 1-meter distance among people and in
employers’ premises, and the obligation to avoid any unnecessary movement in or out the
Republic of San Marino. This situation was possible only for necessity reasons (health or
caregiving) and proven working reasons, in clear continuity with the Italian provisions.
    The first follow-up provision, imposing severe restrictions, was adopted on the 20th of
March, with the Decree no. 522. These measures were aimed first of all at reiterating social
distances, seen as one of the most effective way to reduce virus spread. For this purpose,
schools, the university, sporting events3 and leisure activities were suspended. In addition,
art. 2, suspended activities such as cafeteria, restaurants, barbers, tattoo shops, unnecessary
craftworking activities and all construction activities: a general lockdown of business
activities not considered as essential.
    Art. 6(c) of the Decree no. 52 imposed to employers to reorganize the production
process. The reorganization must reduce the presence of workers in the enterprise by at
least 50% through the application of turnovers and, after, a sanitization of the workplace4.
The reorganization should be organized on a rotation basis. However, this provision did
not apply to enterprise with 1 employee or to activities considered as essentials (groceries,
pharmacies, chemical and pharmaceutical enterprises). In case of voluntary request made
by the employee, he/she can be exempted from the alternance in the reorganized working
hours and its inclusion in Employment retention schemes, as disposed by art. 7 Decree no.
52.


3. Employment retention schemes and income reduction in public sector

   Art. 7 of Decree no. 52 provided extraordinary employment retention schemes
applicable in response to the suspension of working activities expressed by art. 6.
Traditional and generic employment retention schemes in San Marino’s Labour Law was
disposed by Law. No. 73/2010 (art. 11) and only applicable for three possible causes:
   - Exceptional and unpredictable events in the Republic of San Marino which prevent
       the carrying out of activities;

2 Law  Decree no. 52, 20 March 2020.
3 Sporting activities, such as training of professional athletes, were not prohibited in the Decree no. 44.
According to art. 1(d) of the Decree no. 52, any sport activity is suspended, even if performed by Professional
athletes registered to national Federations. This provision is in line with International Olympic Committee
announcement of Tokyo Olympics Games postponement.
4 Art. 6(2) of Decree no. 52 allowed enterprises to request an exemption from the reorganization of working

hours. The exemption would be evaluated by Economic Activities Offices on the basis of economic and
strategic reasons and on the supplementary health and safety measures adopted by the employer.

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835                                                                    2
    Leonardo Battista                                                         Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                             Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                  Section: National Reports




    - Suspension of the activities due to economic and market reasons;
    - Professional retraining and reorganization of the business activity.
    During COVID-19 emergency, these three reasons are suspended, and a fourth reason
is added to the art. 11 of Law no. 73/2010: “reduction of operation determined by risk of
contagion from COVID-19 and repercussions due to its spread”5.
    The economic indemnity disposed by art. 7 is less generous compared to the Italian one.
In fact, a subordinate worker under an employment retention scheme receives 30% of its
salary for the first week, 45% for the second week and 60% for the third and subsequent
weeks. For part-time workers, the indemnity is based on working hours disposed by the
employment contract. However, every economic indemnity cannot be lower than 500
euros per month in order to guarantee personal dignity and sufficient resources6.
    In order to apply for the economic retention scheme, subordinate workers must use, in
advance, every paid-leave or holiday accrued in 2019 or in the first three months of 2020.
The rational under this provision is to decrease the economic impact on enterprises and
government resources. Many critiques were made to the comma no. 17 of the art. 7 of the
Decree no. 52 for the provision regarding newly stipulated employment contracts. In fact,
in case of employment contract stipulated less than 15 days before this Decree, the worker
shall be precluded from the provisions regarding employment retention schemes.
    In public employment, due to the reduction of the activities and to align workers to
those belonging to the private sector, the art. 11 of the Decree 52 disposed an income
reduction during the lockdown period. For public civil servants it is envisaged a reduced
remuneration that is equal to 30% of the salary for the first week, 45% for the second and
60% for the subsequent period. This provision, evaluated with the one treating the private
sector, has the purpose to avoid discrimination between the two sectors and among
workers, sharing the burden of the economic impact related to COVID-19. Obviously, this
provision will not be applied to healthcare personnel. In conclusion, the economic
advantage produced by the civil servants’ income reduction will be used to finance
healthcare measures to contrast COVID-19, as envisaged by art. 20 of the Decree no. 52.


4. Measures for family and self-employed workers

    The Government of the Republic of San Marino has been very keen on supporting
families during the COVID-19 emergency. The Decree no. 55 of the 29 March is directly
addressed to support families, enterprises and self-employed workers. The art. 1 provides
the suspension of mortgages and loans repayment until March 31, 2021, including interests.
Moreover, loans and mortgages are guaranteed by the Central Bank, in order to avoid a
domestic financial instability. In fact, almost the totality of mortgages and loans contracted
by citizens of San Marino are owned by private banks operating only in the Republic. For
self-employed workers, highly affected by COVID-19 and not included in the employment

5Art. 7, comma 2, of Decree no. 52, 20 March 2020.
6This provision will not apply for employment contract where the original income is lower than 500 euros
per month.

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835                                                               3
  Leonardo Battista                                                              Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                                Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                   Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                     Section: National Reports




retention scheme, they can request a suspension from loans payment if they suffered a
decrease in income higher than 15% or if they are included in the list of business activities
not considered as essential (consultants, agencies workers, real estate agencies and so on).
    Families have been supported also in terms of maternity leave provisions. According to
art. 5 of the Decree 52, pregnant women are obliged to be in a situation of mandatory
abstention from work, even if not in the traditional maternity leave period. This provision
applies also to self-employed workers. The indemnity is equal to the 100% of the salary or
the income (in case of self-employed). However, in case of end of the emergency prior to
the traditional maternity leave period, the pregnant worker will be reinserted in the working
premises or could restart to work as self-employed.


4. Cross-border workers

   In 2019, a third of the entire workforce was composed by Italian cross-border workers.
More than 6000 Italian workers are normally employed, as subordinate or self-employed
workers, in the economic activities of the Republic of San Marino. The high level of
economic interconnection of the Republic of San Marino with the Italian territory is
straightforward. Due to this connection, San Marino’s authorities, in agreement with Italian
Government, decided to give the possibility to Italian cross-border workers to perform
their activities, according to the provisions already anticipated. Checkpoints have been
established in the entry routes to the Republic to check Italian workers before their
entrance in the territory. Public authorities check the working reason for their entrance and
their health situation. Furthermore, in order to be accepted in the Republic of San Marino,
cross-border workers must certify their employment relation with the last paycheck or the
effective reason for their intervention in case of self-employed workers.
   Telework is also possible for cross-border workers. However, due to this situation,
provisions about accident at work (in this case at home) are disposed by home Country in
substitution to the host Country, as envisaged by the 1975 Bilateral Convention on Social
Security System (Italy/San Marino), namely art. 237.




Copyright © 2020 Leonardo Battista. This article is released under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.




7 Art.23, 1975 Bilateral Convention on Social Security between Republic of Italy and Republic of San Marino:
https://www.inps.it/docallegatiNP/Mig/Allegati/448Repubblica_di_San_Marino_Convenzione.pdf

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10835                                                                  4
