QUALITALY

OCT. NOV. 2017

VII

REGRET FOR THE OLD SYSTEM

For the restaurant industry, the

voucher was a very useful tool

because thanks to its flexibility it

allowed a response to the peak times

of work, even the unexpected and

unpredictable. “The advantages - he

emphasizes - were the speed and ease

of activation. The voucher allowed

the hiring of any kind of figure, from

the waiter to the dishwasher and, why

not, even a retired plumber who could

carry out some simple maintenance

task. In fact, they were the only form

of additional income compatible with

retirement or unemployment benefits.

In this way, even the unemployed

had the opportunity to perform a

few hours of work (maybe even just

to be the dishwasher during the

weekend), legally rounding up the the

received allowance. Any other form of

subordination, even the simple on-call

contract, interrupts unemployment”.

The great advantage of the vouchers

was to have revealed a lot of illegal

employment. “In our sector - he

continues - the share of” voucher

“workers was far lower than that with

more stable contractual forms, because

it is important for restaurateurs to

retain their own staff. The wide use

that is made is not dependent on

the substitution of other forms of

contracts, but pro-probably from the

regularization and emergence of black

work bags». The costs were low: 10

euros comprised of 7.50 to the worker

and 2.50 of various contributions,

figures that the same catering

operators were ready to Re-discuss, if

they’d had the chance.

“This new instrument – laments

Musacci - was created without

consulting the parties, its use foresees

big limitations and in fact, at least

in our sector, is a total flop for now:

while confronting associates at FIPE

I have not yet heard of one who has

activated a CPO! And it’s not just about

the increase in hourly pay.” Today,

in fact, the pay is 9 euros per worker,

with 4 euros of contributions for a

total of 13 euros. But the issues that

make CPO almost unusable, at least

in the restaurant trade, are different.

“The first stumbling block - he

underlines - is that the CPO should be

activated for a minimum of 4 hours

of work, while with the old voucher

there were no time limits. This means

that even if I need just a single hour

of work I have to pay 4. Also only

premises with less than 5 employees

can use them indefinitely and this cuts

off the vast majority of restaurants.

70% of the contracts in the catering

sector are indefinite: for us the loyalty

of the staff is very important, because

the relationship with customers is

continuous. The loyal customers

always expect to find the same

waiters, the same bartender...”

Another limit is that of the maximum

ceiling of 2500 euros per employer

paid by the CPO, in addition to which

one must move to an employment

contract. “With a pay of 10 euros/hour

– he comments - it’s 250 hours: which

is very little, at least in our industry.

Before the limit was 5000 Euro.”

THE SOLUTION WAS TO IMPROVE

THEM

But if the new contracts do not answer

to the needs of restaurateurs what

can be done? The only alternative is

to switch to call contracts, but being

employment forms are more onerous

and laborious to activate and require

the intervention of an employment

consultant. Also the regulatory

requirements are more, for example,

employees must take courses in first

aid and safety at work, while for those

who are paid with the vouchers, the

food preparation course is sufficient.

“My experience is this – concludes

Musacci – I regularly used the

vouchers at the weekend in the period

between October and March/April,

that more intensive period, now I

have replaced them with call contracts

that cost me about 250 euros more

per month. On the other hand, with

5 indefinite employees, in addition to

apprentices, I would have no choice.

I think they have ‘patched’ a tear

with a bigger hole, without satisfying

anyone, not even the workers. I

believe that rather than cancelling

them, the vouchers were to be revised

and improved, enhancing the control

system to ensure they weren’t used

improperly, or to disguise undeclared

work.”

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BOX

WHO MAKES A MISTAKE, PAYS!

Another factor that hinders

companies from the use of vouchers

is the penalties associated with

the misuse of the instrument. “In

the event that the entrepreneur

erroneously activates the voucher

- says Mr. Alajmo, president of the

Provincial Association of Public

Exercises (APPE) of Padua - heavy

penalties are applied and the contract

of employment automatically changes

to full time and indefinite. In short, a

nice incentive not to use vouchers!”

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BOX

THE CHARACTERISTICS

OF THE CPO

The legislation for the CPO is circular

N. 107 of 5 July 2017, which provides

operational guidance on the discipline

of occasional services, introduced by

article 54-bis of the Decree-Law of 24

April 2017, N. 50, as converted by Law

n. 96 of 21 June 2017. Here outlined

are the main aspects:

no more than five employees on an

indefinite contract

of both the employer and the worker

on the INPS portal

each occasional employment to INPS

its virtual portfolio through the

form F24, which will be reduced

from time to time according to the

quantity of the individual services

communicated.

is done by INPS within the 15th

day of the month following the

performance.