The superminimum on the pay slip is absorbable. What does it mean?

Following agreements between employer and employee, or as a result of company agreements, a series of additional pay items may be envisaged in addition to the minimum wage contemplated by national and territorial collective agreements, including superminimum wages.
With the exception of the cases of assignment of the "collective" superminimum (which originate in a company agreement), the superminimums are recognized by virtue, for example, of: Technical-professional skills of the worker; Employee experience; Particular difficulties or inconveniences related to the type of job performed; Adjustment of salary (or increase thereof) compared to what was recognized during previous work experience; Results obtained or merits of the worker.
Unlike other additional salary items, such as function allowances or ad personam allowances, superminimum allowances can be absorbable or non-absorbable.
What does what just described mean? Let's analyze the issue in detail.
Is the superminimum on the paycheck absorbable (and what does it mean) Absorbable or non-absorbable superminimum? Absorbable superminimum, examples In which cases is absorption excluded? The burden of proof lies on the worker.
Pay attention to collective superminims.
Contributions and taxation.
Calculation of holidays, permits, additional monthly payments and severance pay.
Absorbable or non-absorbable superminimum? The individual source (letter of employment or agreements subsequently reached) or collective (company agreement) which governs the recognition of the superminimum is required to specify whether the sum can be absorbed following: Level upgrades; Contract increases; Seniority increases; Increase in salary as a result of other fixed elements such as allowances or bonuses.
If positive (absorbability), the amount attributed to the employee will be reduced by an amount corresponding to the increase in the minimum wage or other additional elements (allowances and bonuses).
Absorbable superminimum, the examples To understand what has just been described, let's take the case (with hypothetical salary values) of the Caio employee who is entitled, pursuant to the national collective labor agreement applied, to a minimum monthly salary of 1,793.12 euros.
Following an agreement with the employer, Caio is assigned a superminimum amount that can be absorbed in the 4 cases mentioned in the previous paragraph, equal to 300.00 euros gross per month.
Consequently, Caio's monthly salary increases to 2,093.12 euros.
After two years, the Ccnl applied is renewed and Caio receives an increase in his basic pay of 160.00 euros.
Since the superminimum is absorbable, the sum of €300.00 is reduced by an amount corresponding to the increase in basic pay resulting from the renewal.
The new amount is therefore reduced to 300.00 – 160.00 = 140.00.
The monthly salary therefore remains at 2,093.12 euros, of which: Basic pay from Ccnl euro 1,793.12 + 160.00 = 1,953.12 euros; Absorbable superminimum 140.00 euros; Total 2,093.12 euros.
However, considering the non-absorbable superminimum, the new monthly salary following the renewal of the Ccnl will be equal to: Basic pay from Ccnl euro 1,793.12 + 160.00 = 1,953.12 euros; Absorbable superminimum 300.00 euros; Total 2,253.12 euros; with an increase of 160.00 euros since the superminimum is not reduced correspondingly.
read also How much do you earn with overtime In which cases is absorption excluded? The absorption of the superminimum, except as described in the next paragraph, is excluded if: The parties (employer and employee) expressly establish, when assigning the superminimum, its non-absorption; The collective agreement prohibits it; The parties have expressly assigned to the superminimum the nature of additional compensation linked to particular merits of the worker or to the special quality or greater burdensomeness of the tasks carried out by the worker.
The burden of proof lies on the worker.
Beyond the hypotheses described above, ambiguous situations may arise in which the employer supports the absorbability of the superminimum while, on the contrary, the worker excludes it.
A consolidated orientation of the Court of Cassation considers the burden of proof regarding the non-absorbability of the superminimum as falling on the worker.
Again the Supreme Court (sentence of 5 June 2020 number 10779) underlined that, with a view to reconstructing the will of the parties regarding the absorbability or otherwise of the sum in question, it is necessary to evaluate the behavior of the employer and the employee concerned even after the conclusion of the agreement for the assignment of the superminimum, since repeated conduct by the employer can be considered proof of the exclusion of absorbability.
From this point of view, the behavior of a company which, following the increase in remuneration foreseen collectively, resorts to payment in several tranches without making use of absorption, is a signal of the desire to consider the superminimum non-absorbable (Cassation ruling of 16 April 2021 number 10164).
Another hypothesis to the attention of the Supreme Court (sentence 5 June 2020 number 10779) concerns the repeated behavior of the employer consisting in the failure to absorb the superminimum on the occasion of the workers' professional progression.
The conduct described may demonstrate the desire to exclude the absorbability of the superminimum.
Attention to collective superminimums Superminimums are not to be considered exclusively individual, therefore recognized according to the type of performance or the particular merits of the worker, but also collective.
The latter are regulated at company level, for the benefit of all workers or certain categories of them.
Unlike the individual superminimum which, being the result of an agreement between the parties, can be reduced or eliminated with a subsequent agreement between the parties, the collective superminimum can be adjusted, even in a pejorative sense, only by a subsequent collective agreement (Milan Court 13 April 2023 number 1337).
Contributions and taxation Both in the case of absorbable and non-absorbable superminims, the amounts are, like the other salary items provided for by the national collective labor agreement, taxable at a contributory and fiscal level.
Consequently, the same contribute to the determination of the sums subject to: Withholdings paid by the employee as social security and welfare contributions; Social security and welfare contributions paid by the company; Withholdings paid by the worker as Personal Income Tax (IRPEF) and related regional and municipal surcharges.
read also Superminimum on the pay slip: what it is, how it is calculated and when it is due Calculation of holidays, leaves of absence, additional monthly payments and TFR The superminimums contribute to the calculation of the pay due: In case of use of absences for holidays and paid leaves; By way of additional monthly payments, such as the thirteenth and possible fourteenth; For the calculation of severance pay.
Lastly, the superminimum values are relevant for the calculation of the theoretical salary due to the employee during the notice period.
The calculation in question is used to determine the amount of the item by way of: Indemnity in lieu of notice, paid by the employer to be paid in the employee's pay slip; Failure to give notice, to be withheld from the worker's pay slip.