Payment of wages in cash: what sanctions do you face?

What are the consequences for the employer who pays the employee for money?

At the end of the month, usually arrives the most expected time for the worker: the payment of wages, the result of hard work! However, instead of receiving the clbadic bank transfer, the employer summons us and delivers us in an envelope the amount to which we are entitled in comfortable notes. Can you do it? We will see in this article whether or not it is allowed in our legal system the payment of cash wages: what penalties do you incur?

What is the worker's unique book?

Before addressing the issue that interests us most, we understand well where all workers' wages are recorded and, in general, the economic transactions made with them.

The law [1] establishes that the private employer, with the sole exception of the domestic work employer, must train and keep a single workbook in which to register all workers.

For each worker shall be given the surname and given name, the tax code and, if applicable, the qualification and level, salary length of service, as well as the positions of insurance related.

As far as we are concerned here, the legislator has provided that in the single work any reference to gifts in cash or in kind paid or managed by the employer, including the costs of reimbursement, the deductions for any reason, tax deductions, data relating to grants for the family unit, must be made; benefits received from social security institutions and institutions. Amounts paid as a bonus or overtime must be specifically indicated.

The violation of the obligation to establish and maintain a labor register is punishable by an administrative fine ranging from five hundred to two thousand five hundred euros. How could the salary be paid to date?

Up to now, no regulations required employers to monitor workers' wage payments. And so, all the emoluments that flowed into the paycheck and were saved in the single workbook, could be paid by any means, including money.

Obviously, this – over time – caused the workers, who were forced to sign the pay slip indicating a specific amount, as resulting in the worker's single book, and then cash in cash a considerably smaller sum. And so, the employer – strong of his position of advantage towards the employee, sometimes forced to accept this situation, to avoid a dismissal (in the form of resignation signed in blank to the recruitment) – could deduce more than fees, pay less tax and pay less money for its employees

What happens as of July 1, 2018?

Effective July 1, 2018, employers will be forced to pay the salaries of their employees. a bank or post office with one of the following means:

1. bank transfer to the account identified by the IBAN code indicated by the worker;
2. electronic payment instruments;
3. payment to cash at the bank or at the post office where the employer opened a current account with cash to pay,
4. issue a check delivered directly to the worker or, in the case where his proven impediment, to one of his delegates, such as a spouse, a cohabitant or a family member, in a straight line or as a guarantee of the worker, provided that 39, he is not less than sixteen [2]. Clients can not, therefore, pay the worker directly, regardless of the type of employment relationship established [3].

   Consequently, this legal obligation will affect any employment relationship from 1 July. irrespective of the manner in which the service is performed and the duration of the relationship, as well as any employment relationship arising from contracts of co-ordinated and continuous collaboration and from employment contracts drawn up in any form whatsoever by the cooperatives with its members.

   date of July, the signature on the pay slip will no longer be sufficient to prove the payment monthly payment [4]

   Thus, in addition to avoiding tax evasion by employers, it will be established that the remuneration paid is not less than the minimum set by collective bargaining.

   Exceptions to the ban on cash delivery

   However, not everyone will have to submit to the ban on the delivery of money in cash for the payment of the wages paid.

   The new legislation, in fact, will not apply to working relationships established with the public administration, or to those which are in any case covered by national collective agreements for family and domestic service employees, stipulated by the most representative trade union badociations at the national level [5]. The same exception is made for fellowships, internships and casual self-employment relationships

   Another exception is provided for remittances for cash advances for expenses, reimbursements and other paid to worker, other than contractual arrangements

   Otherwise, advances in processing must be traceable

   How will controls be performed?

   To ensure that the obligations under this new law are implemented and that, as a result, there is widespread circumvention by the employer, the law states that within three months to From the date of entry into force of the reform, the Government stipulates with the trade union organizations of workers and employers more representative at national level, with the Italian Banking Association and with the Italian Post Office an agreement with which appropriate communication tools to promote knowledge and correct application of new regulatory requirements [6]

   What are the consequences of not respecting the prohibition?

   The employer or the client who continues to pay in cash the salary of his employee, or who does not comply with the other restrictions imposed by the reform, will be applied an administrative monetary penalty consisting of the payment of money. a sum of one thousand euros to five thousand euros. A much lower figure than originally planned in the design phase of this new bond, rising to a minimum of five thousand euros and a maximum of fifty thousand euros

   Penalties to the l 39; employer will start even if the bank transfer is revoked, or the check canceled before recovery

   How can the penalty be challenged?

   If the employer receives the administrative penalty provided for the ban in question, and wants to challenge the content, will have thirty days to submit the administrative appeal to the labor inspector against the protest report. The thirty days begin from the receipt of the notification of the minutes

   In the same period, the recipient of sanctions may submit defensive writings.

   Footnotes

   [1] Art. 26, co. 2, Presidential Decree 633/72

   [2] Art. 1, co. 910, Finance Act 2018

   [3] Art. 1, co. 911, Finance Act 2018

   [4] Art. 1, co. 912, Finance Act 2018

   [5] Art. 1, co. 913, Finance Act 2018

   [6] Art. 1, co. 914, Finance Act 2018