General Terms
and Conditions

“Employees”:         

All persons that are in an employment relationship with your company and have an employment contract that has not been terminated for longer than 3 months.

“Immediate family members”:

Immediate family members are people who live in the same household with the employee (e.g. spouses, partners, siblings, parents, etc.).

“Services”:

Services are all of the services provided by ICAS for your company.

ICAS is obliged to provide the following services for your company:

2.1. Counseling services for employees and their immediate family members:

2.1.1. Telephone services
2.1.2. Face-to-Face Counseling
2.1.3. Management Feedback

2.1.1. Telephone services

The Employee Assistance Program EAP from ICAS is available to all employees and their immediate family members. It offers direct, unlimited and confidential access free of charge to telephone counseling on emotional topics, around the clock, as well as practical life skills and legal questions, which are researched and answered during office hours. The calls are taken by professional and experienced counselors who carefully clarify the needs of the caller in order to provide the necessary support to the caller.

The ICAS Support Center can be reached 365 days a year, around the clock on the toll-free number. Calls are answered in Italian, English, French or German.

Advice on mental health topics can be conducted directly with the psychologist who takes the call. Questions about practical life skills and legal questions will be forwarded to our qualified lawyers. Often, counseling discussions arise from simple requests for information.

*Attention: Some mobile phone providers charge network usage fees for toll-free numbers. With some providers, it is possible that depending upon the subscription contract, no toll-free numbers can be called. ICAS has no influence over these providers or their subscription contracts. In these cases, ICAS can be reached around the clock on the international number. In order to keep the cost down for the caller, ICAS is happy to call back.

Telephone counseling for emotional/mental issues

• If a personal counseling session is desired, this can be conducted directly with the psychologist who takes the call. Thus, there is no delay for the caller. In this way, it is also assured that an employee who is currently in a crisis or needs courage to call need not be transferred before a specialist hears his issue.
• All calls are taken by psychologists with university degrees and life experience. These also have additional knowledge in various topic areas, such as, e.g. handling grief, debt questions, anxieties, stress, performance problems, harassment, burnout, mobbing, family and relationship conflicts, divorce or lack of self-confidence/feeling of self-worth. They help the employees to analyze their issues and develop concrete solutions.
• There are professional and proven procedural protocols in order to guarantee the supervision and active handling of risk situations. Depending on the starting point and the gravity of the case, appropriate readiness systems and measures will be initiated.
• The telephone advisors can also offer the callers face-to-face counseling sessions with a state-recognized psychotherapist, if this is indicated.

Practical life skills and legal issues / Life Management

• The ICAS advisors are lawyers and attorneys that are also versed in obtaining information.
• According to the experience of ICAS, specialized and useful information for the employees that must deal with multi-faceted work-related and personal questions is of inestimable value. Financial problems, legal problems, consumer issues, concerns such as moving, looking for housing, restructuring or personal events such as a death or loss of a job are undoubtedly taken into the workplace and impair the worker’s performance ability and productivity.
• These expert advisors from ICAS are also trained in psychology. They are attentive, empathetic and impartial listeners. They know that behind a factual question there is often a hidden emotional need that the employee would like to address. The free discussion and expression of feelings such as frustration, anger, excitement, pain or loss allows the affected person to become calmer internally and to seek solutions constructively.
• ICAS has data banks, brochures and reference works and can reach out to technical specialists in the fields of law, finance, insurance and medical issues.
• Information can be obtained on the following topics, among others:

Support for managers / HR / Staff association (Managerial Consultancy)

The Employee Assistance Program EAP also serves the supervisors and human resources staff as a sparring partner in complicated management situations, organizational changes, conflicts or in the handling of difficult events such as sexual harassment, bullying, violence, serious accidents, crises, disaster.

Although the employee as a rule turns to ICAS on his own initiative, it is possible that supervisors, HR managers or team leaders refer an employee to ICAS – as an effective and well-meaning measure to reinstate the performance ability of an employee.

There are three different types of referral:

• Self-referral – the most common.
• Informal referral by a supervisor or HR – these encourage employees to use the ICAS EAP, but the performance of the employee, however, is not in question.
• Formal referral – Supervisors recommend the ICAS EAP in cases where work performance is affected.

The decision to make contact with ICAS ultimately remains with the employee, however. The decision is always voluntary. In a formal referral, where performance is the problem, the party making the referral only receives as feedback the information whether the employee has contacted ICAS or not.

2.1.2. Personal counseling sessions (Face-to-face Counseling)

In case of more complex emotional problems, the callers have the possibility to arrange for personal counseling sessions in the form of a clarifying, solution seeking, crisis counseling and/or shortterm therapy (up to a maximum of 8 sessions). These take place with federally licensed psychotherapists nearby the workplace. If desired, these sessions can also be conducted on the telephone.

Qualifications of the ICAS Advisor Network

• In Italy, ICAS has its own network of psychologists who meet strict selection criteria. Their qualifications include a recognized diploma in psychology and psychotherapy, many years of practical experience and membership in an Italian professional association. They are authorized to treat mental disorders according to the Italian Law on Psychological Professions.
• The ICAS advisors have experience in different disciplines and can provide help with issues in areas such as relationships, alcohol or drug addiction, grief, debts or trauma.
• All advisors must organize their own supervision pursuant to the requirements of the professional associations and must have liability insurance. They work in their own practice rooms, which are inspected by ICAS before they are accepted into the network.
• To the extent possible, in distributing the advisors, ICAS takes into account the preferences of the employee, e.g. with regard to age, gender, cultural background, experience and availability.
• In line with the ICAS guidelines, these advisors are available near each of the employer’s business locations. For that reason, IICAS invests a substantial amount of time and expense in building out and caring for this professional advisor network.

2.1.3. Usage statistics and reports

ICAS provides your company annually after each contract period with the following information in Excel format:

• The number of employees and immediate family members that have contacted ICAS
• The nature of the services used
• The topics of the enquiries, divided into private and work-related topics

ICAS provides its services to its best knowledge and belief as a representative of your company and in so doing applies the necessary care. ICAS thereby safeguards the legitimate interests of your company in good faith.

4.1. Your company is obliged to provide compensation pursuant to No. 5 below.

4.2. Your company is further obliged to make available to ICAS all of the information and documents that are necessary for ICAS to fulfill its contractual duties (compare No. 3 above).

7.1. ICAS provides its services with the reservation that all contacts by the employees and immediate family members with ICAS are completely confidential and are to be handled in accordance with professional ethics and rules. Information that could identify a specific individual will only be provided to your company or a third party with the prior express written consent of the person or in a situation of acute danger for your company with regard to its workforce. If there is a situation of acute danger, ICAS is obliged to provide only the information that is absolutely necessary. The decision whether information that is absolutely necessary will be provided shall be made by ICAS upon the recommendation of a “Senior Clinician” pursuant to clear clinical procedural rules that have been communicated to the affected person in advance.

7.2. Both parties are mutually obliged, both during and after the end of the contract, to maintain confidentiality about all business secrets, confidential information and data that they have perceived during the duration of the contract.

8.1. ICAS is obliged at its own expense to obtain liability insurance coverage in the amount of € 8.300.000 to cover any damages that ICAS could cause your company in exercising its duties under this contract.

Both parties are mutually obliged to acknowledge and comply with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR as of May 25, 2018. Details regarding the technical and organizational measures regarding data protections are listed in Appendix 1.

13.1. The contract comes into force on the 1st of the month following the receipt of payment. It is entered into for an indeterminate term, the invoice is issued annually. The contract can be terminated at the end of a contract year by giving 6 months’ notice.

If the contract is not continued, your company is obliged to inform its employees about the end of the service and to require them not to make any more calls.

If employees or immediate family members call anyway, the support calls will be refused by ICAS. After the end of the contract, ICAS will do no more advising. If there are repeated calls by employees or immediate family members after the end of the contract, ICAS reserves the right to invoice for its expenses (time, telephone tolls).

13.2. Each party is entitled to immediate written termination of the contract if:

13.2.1. One of the parties is responsible for a material breach of the contract, and the breach is not cured within 30 days after receipt of a written demand from the other party that the contractual breach be cured.

13.2.2. A party files for bankruptcy or is liquidated.

13.2.3. Continuance of the contractual relationship has become objectively unreasonable.

13.3. If the contract is ended, ICAS shall finish all advice sessions with an employee that were started before termination of the contract, including the necessary number of face to face counseling sessions.