Employee in financial difficulty: what help can the employer give?

The increase in the cost of living caused by the post-epidemic emergency recovery from Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine can lead employees to experience situations of liquidity crisis, to the point of finding themselves in extreme difficulty in dealing with the expenses of daily life in waiting for the new salary.
In these moments of crisis, help could come from the employer.
Let's analyze in detail how.
Employee in financial difficulty: what help can the employer give? Providing a severance pay advance Providing an advance on salary Providing a one-off sum in the payslip Beware of the risk of creating precedents Providing a severance pay advance The cause of the worker's liquidity problems may be one of the reasons that justify the advance of the accrued severance pay.
Article 2120 of the Civil Code in fact provides in paragraph 6 that the employee, with at least eight years of service with the same employer, can request, while maintaining an employment relationship, an advance on the severance pay not higher than 70% of the sum to which he would have been entitled in the event of termination of the contract on the date of the request.
The right in question can be exercised by the worker only once during the employment contract and exclusively when the following reasons occur: Purchase of the first house for himself or for his children; Need to support healthcare costs for therapies and extraordinary interventions recognized by the competent local health authorities; Bear expenses during periods of use of specific leaves, such as parental leave or training leave.
The advance request must be formalized by the worker in written form, specifying: The reasons; The amount requested; The date of payment of the dues; in addition to attaching the supporting documents of the expense, for example: The preliminary sales contract, in cases of purchasing a first home; The certificate issued by the local health authorities which certifies, for healthcare expenses, the existence of the disease, the need for the consequent therapy or intervention as well as the amount of the expense.
An exception is made in cases of leave, for which it is sufficient for the employee to indicate the starting date of the absence in the application to the company.
The company is in any case required to accept requests for advance payments within the annual limit of 10% of eligible workers and in any case 4% of the total number of employees.
The number of workers to be taken as reference for the calculation of those entitled is that existing at the beginning of the year.
read also TFR advance to worker with foreclosure and loans: what to do? Providing an advance on the salary If the conditions for the severance pay advance are not met, the employer can consider granting an advance on the future monthly salary, normally the first available remuneration.
The advantage of the advance payment is that, unlike the advance payment for severance pay, it is not subject to any requirement in terms of the employee's seniority, amount and reasons for the worker's request.
Particular attention must however be paid to the fact that, although it is a deposit, it must be paid with traceable payment instruments, in compliance with the prohibition provided for by law (article 1, paragraphs 910 – 914, Law 27 December 2017 number 205) to pay the salary, as well as any advance thereof, in cash directly to the worker.
Violation of the prohibition in question is in fact punished with an administrative fine ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 euros.
To determine the amount of the fine, the months for which the offense continued must be considered, regardless of the number of workers affected by the violation.
Once the advance has been paid, the employer is required to recover the advance sum with a corresponding deduction from the pay slip, to be made on the net amount to be paid to the worker.
In any case, the request for the advance must come from the employee, who has the final decision on whether or not to resort to this form of financial support from the company.
The interested party's request must be drawn up in writing, to be addressed to the employer or, alternatively, to the head of the headquarters/office/department or to the personnel office.
The document must indicate the amount of the deposit and the salary from which the withholding is to be made.
The employer, for his part, signs the document containing the employee's request for receipt and acceptance.
Let's take the example of the employer who pays the salary on the 10th of the month following the relevant month.
Following the request of the worker Tizio to receive an advance of 250.00 euros, the company decides on 15 February 2024 to grant the advance on the first available salary, specifically that of February, to be paid on Monday 11 March 2024 (the 10 falls on Sunday).
Consequently, on the net amount to be paid to Tizio, resulting from the February pay slip and equal to 1,500.00 euros, the 250.00 euros of the advance payment will have to be recovered, thus bringing the sum to be paid to the interested party to 1,250.00 euros .
Provide a one-off sum in payslip.
Unlike the TFR advance, the gross amount of which is subject to tax withholdings by way of Irpef – separate taxation and the advance, recognized according to a net sum, the employer can decide to financially support the worker through the payment of a one-off amount in the pay slip, as such subject to: Withholdings for social security and welfare contributions paid by the worker; Social security and welfare contributions paid by the company; Tax withholdings for personal income tax payable by the worker.
Since the amount requested by the employee is net, the employer can perform a "reverse" calculation by evaluating the gross amount to be paid on the basis of the increase in the desired net amount.
Let's assume that: The disbursement of the one-off sum takes place in the April 2024 payslip, the net amount of which to be paid is equal to €2,000.00; The worker needs financial assistance of 1,500.00 euros.
At this point the employer or those involved in processing the pay slips (personnel office, professionals or other appointed intermediaries) can add a gross amount to the payslip and change its value until the net amount reaches the sum of 3,500.00 including: 2,000.00 euros as original net amount; 1,500.00 euros as financial aid.
In the case of disbursement of a one-off sum, a specific request from the worker is not necessary, given that the company can decide, within its power to organize the economic-productive activity, to recognize additional sums to employees.
read also TFR disbursement from the INPS treasury fund: 4 tips for managing it in the best possible way Beware of the risk of creating precedents With the exception of the disbursement of the TFR advance, subject to specific requirements regarding the legitimate exercise of the right by the worker, both The provision of the advance as well as the one-off amount can create a precedent, pushing other employees in the future to demand the same treatment.
In these cases it is important to regulate the limits and characteristics of the economic aid within a specific company regulation, or even a union agreement.