In focus

The wage and salary book

Section 52 of the Labor Contract Law establishes that every employer must keep a Special Book where data corresponding to each hired worker is recorded. Employers are required to comply through the registration of mobile sheets, in which case the employer must have authorization from the labor administrative authority.

Background

The Joint General Resolution No. 3.669 of the FTA and No. 941 of the Ministry of Labor, dated 8 September 2014 established that employers who wish to follow the system through the registration of mobile sheets should publish the sheets online through the software that the FTA would develop.

This system was approved by General Resolution No. 3.781 of the FTA dated 26 June 2015, wich established the so-called "Digital Salary Book" for those employers who had opted for the registration of mobile sheets. Voluntary compliance with the system was allowed at this time.

News

The Resolutions published in the Official Gazette on 17 August 2022 established that:

• All employers, whether those who have opted for the registration of mobile sheets or those who have not, must now comply with the duty imposed by Section 52 of the Labor Contract Law through the use of the digital system known as the "Digital Salary Book".

• The obligation to use this system will be established progressively, until it reaches all employers. The FTA will inform employers that they must use the system at their electronic fiscal domicile.

• As part of the procedure, employers must now also record the recognized seniority date of each of their workers in the "Additional Data" section.

• The authority of the local administrative bodies in labor matters remains. The FTA will agree with them on the implementation of the heading of the Special Book and the collection of fees for its authorization. To this end, a model Framework Agreement for Collaboration and Exchange of Information is envisaged. Once the agreement has been concluded, employers must pay their fees through an electronic payment system.

The local authorities will have access to the information available in the FTA services and, to implement an information exchange procedure regarding the actions carried out by the local administrative authorities, they can enter into Specific Agreements to the Framework Agreement.

• Effective immediately, the "Work Certificate" contemplated by Section 80 of the Labor Contract Law must be issued exclusively through the computer system approved by the FTA (form F. 984), which can be accessed through its website. To be valid, it must be issued in duplicate and have the signatures of the responsible authority — or the legal representative of the employer -—and the worker, with the original intended for the latter and the duplicate for the employer.

In the event that the certification includes periods up to and including the month of June 1994, the certificate issued by the system will be supplemented with another record of the same characteristics and data, prepared by the employer according to the records of the Wage and Salary Book that the employer would have used in the periods involved.

• These provisions are effective as of the date of their publication in the Official Gazette, i.e., from 17 August 2022.

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