Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54)

• Author: Renga, Simonetta
• Pages: 62-65

62

6 Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directiv e 2006/54)

6.1 General (legal) context

6.1.1 Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to occupational and/or

statutory social security issues

Research on the implementat ion of the EU anti-discrimination legislation as regards

occupational schemes in Italy is non-exi stent. The lack of debate is, first, a consequence

of the limited attention paid to the subject of social protection: despite the importance of

social protection at both the social and economic levels, there is only a small number of

outdated studies and research in the field. Secondly, the EU anti-discrimination legislation

has not yet been absorbed by the judiciary.

The main gender discriminatory featu res in occupational funds relate to the survivors’

pensions rights of cohabitants and partners, who are often women; it must also be

reminded that the regulation of occupational funds makes no provisions f or the recovery

of wasted contributions during pregnancy/maternity. Some occupationa l funds do not

allow subscriptions to short-term employees. Sometimes, disabili ty benefits are

conditioned on extra c ontributions or age requirements. Over and ab ove this, one has to

bear in mind that the benefits rights o f atypical workers, intermittent, temporary,

occasional and part-time workers as well as those of workers with earnings inferior to the

average standards, many of whom are women and young workers, will be always at risk,

as their qualifying conditions, contributions record and benefit amount depends on the

regularity of their careers. The occupational funds, in particular, tend to mirror the

differences between workers in the labour mar ket and this is a cause for c oncern in the

light of a social protection system in which pu blic and supplementary schem es are seen

as complementary to the end of maintaining adequate levels of welfare cover.

The situation described above is reflected in a recent research study on occupational and

private complementary social protection funds.72 This study shows that t he gender gap in

the labour market is also reflected in occupational pensions schemes, where 61.1 % of the

participants are men and only 38.9 % are women. As regards th e gender percentage of

workforce, 27 .2 % of the male workforce takes part in o ccupational fu nds compared to

23.5 % of the female workforce. The fact that occupational funds tend to mirror the

differences between workers that exist in the labour market and the gender pay gap in

particular is also shown by the 2016 survey led by the Labour Commission of the Chamber

of Deputies at the Italia n Parliament.73 The commission recommends: the introduction of

better instruments to evaluate the gender imp act in the pensions sy stem; an increase of

notional contributions74 and instruments that help to avoid the consequences in the

pension system of periods of absence for caring reasons; and finally, the introduction of a

safety net in the social security system for those whose careers are fragmented and

characterised by instability.

72 See on this also Valeriani, A. (2017) Le prospettive evolutive della previdenza complementare.

Un’opportunit̀ per superare anche il gap previdenziale di genere (The evolution of occupational and

integrative funds. A chance of overtaking the gender gap in social security), in Working Paper Adapt,

University Press. Valeriani is a member of COVIP (the Supervisor Commission for Pension Funds). Available

at: https://moodle.adaptland.it/pluginfile.php/29543/mod_resource/content/0/wp_5_2017_valeriani.pdf.

73 Published in

http://www.camera.it/leg17/1079?idLegislatura=17&tipologia=indag&sottotipologia=c11_pensionistici&ann

o=2016&mese=07&giorno=06&idCommissione=11&numero=0013&file=indice_stenografico#stenograficoC

ommissione.tit00030.

74 Those are contributions that are credited without cost to the employee for periods during which the worker

has not worked (for example, in the case of illness or maternity) and therefore he or she has received

benefit payments from the national social security system (INPS).