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Italian businesses that follow the health and safety rules are protected from liability in case returning workers catch coronavirus, the head of the country’s insurance association said in an interview with La Stampa.

While infections are categorized as workplace accidents under the government’s decree on reopening the economy, business owners won’t automatically face penalties if employees contract the illness, said Franco Bettoni, president of Inail.

Assigning culpability is “very rigorous” under Italy’s Cura Italia decree and an employer must be shown to have acted maliciously or to have failed to comply with the regulations, he said.

“The recognition of this as a workplace accident does not constitute a presumption of penalties on the part of the business owner,” he said.

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Topics Liability