Background information

Following sudden and violent bad weather that severely affected employees at one of the Group's sites in May 2022, the management of the French subsidiary of the Italian food group Barilla signed an agreement on 10 October 2022, regarding the donation of days off. The original intention of this legal scheme was to enable employees to offer days off to colleagues with a sick child whose state of health requires their presence at the child's bedside. The agreement has extended this measure to employees whose place(s) of work has (have) been affected by a major climatic event.

Content of measure

The agreement authorises the donation of days off between employees in the event of a major climatic event (flood, mudslide, earthquake, drought, etc.). Employees will thus be able to take up to ten days off work while maintaining their pay.

Beneficiaries of donations

The beneficiaries of the days donated must work at one of the Barilla France sites that have been affected by ‘a major climatic event (comparable to a state of natural disaster without recognition by the State). According to the agreement, this is characterised by ‘the abnormal intensity of a natural agent (flood, mudslide, earthquake, avalanche, drought, etc.) when the usual measures to be taken to prevent such damage could not prevent it from occurring or could not be taken’.

Donation terms and conditions

All employees with permanent contracts may donate their days off. The days that can be donated are: those from the ‘short-term’ time savings account, and additional days of conventional leave. Days donated must be done ‘once and only once’. It is anonymous, unrequited and definitive. In the event of a natural disaster, a call for donations will be sent out by the HR department by e-mail and posted on the company's sites. Potential beneficiary employees will then be asked to submit their request via a portal, indicating the number of days requested. They will be given a reply ‘as soon as possible’, specifying, ‘where applicable’, the number of days they are entitled to. In addition, depending on the event, management ‘reserves the right’ to top up the number of days off taken by employees, depending on the seriousness of the event and its impact on staff at the site(s) concerned.

Use of days

Once the request has been validated, the employee is entitled to make use of the scheme. The employee's absence is limited to ten days, except in exceptional cases validated by the HR department of the site concerned. The days must be taken per full day, consecutively or not. During the period of leave, the employee's pay and health insurance cover will be maintained. This period of absence is treated as actual working time for the purposes of calculating seniority, acquiring annual leave and seniority leave, RTT and retirement.

Use of measure

The company employs about 1,300 employees in France who can benefit from this agreement.

Contents

• Leave arrangements
• Solidarity

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Workers in non-standard forms of employment	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Trade unions Company / Companies	Employer Other

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only trade unions
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

The agreement has been signed between the management and three representative trade unions within the company.

Views and reactions

As the employer and three trade unions have signed the agreement, it means that they support and agree the measure.

Sources

• 12 October 2022: Accord relatif au don de jours entre salariés au sein de Barilla (www.dialogue-social.fr)