There was the publication of the new rules for food vouchers for workers by the government in the Official Gazette of the Union on Tuesday, February 28th. From now on, the benefit can only be used to purchase food and drinks. Additionally, companies that offer food vouchers will no longer be able to offer discounts to companies in exchange for their services. And the fines for non-compliance can reach 50 thousand reais.
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It is worth mentioning that it is considered mandatory that the use of the money is solely for the purchase of food, a rule that also applies to the meal vouchers, as something that should be obvious is not so clear, as many workers abused the system and used the voucher to other destinations.
This became prohibited by the new Provisional Measure No. 1,108. Companies will audit how much money is spent for food or food stamps, and anyone found out will be notified. However, there is still no concrete information about the possible consequences for the worker.
In addition, discounts granted to companies by food voucher card operators will be prohibited. Thus, there is already a clear fine for those who fail to comply with this rule, that any card company that fails to comply with this rule may receive this fine in an amount of up to R$ 50,000. The Ministry of Labor considers this practice illegal and intends to combat it.
This is because when a company offers discounts, they are more likely to charge the employee directly. Thus, in order not to suffer a penalty, food vouchers have taxes to be paid when used in restaurants and supermarkets, reducing the worker's purchasing power.
In addition, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security stated that there is already a tax exemption in the contracting food assistance programs, so there would be no reason for these deductions to be accepted. With this, it is considered to insist on insufficient execution discounts and misuse of assistance, which would be prosecuted as an illegal activity, with a potential fine of 5 to 50 thousand reais.
Both workers who abuse their time and companies that hire the card service will have to be more cautious in their practices.
