Canteen allowance and severance pay: don’t let your employer cheat you

Pay enormous attention when it comes to canteen allowance and severance pay: there are some things you absolutely need to know.

The employment sector, the world of work, in Italy is making small, albeit slow, progress. The number of employed people is growing, although unfortunately a large portion of the population remains unemployed or unemployed, which makes the family budget a real problem, in particular with the constant growth in the cost of living.

Anyone who has the possibility of having a job, properly paid and with contributions paid, must pay attention to aspects that seem automatic, but in reality must be examined promptly to avoid calculation errors. For example, a very strong focus must be placed on the relationship between the canteen allowance and severance pay. There are things you need to point out to your employer: here’s what you need to know.

Canteen allowance and severance pay: what do you need to know?

There are aspects that we tend to ignore when it comes to pay slip calculations or TFR, severance pay, because they appear to us to be highly automated. But we need to open our eyes, in particular with regards to the canteen allowance and the calculation during the severance pay phase. The first is a compensation that is due to the employees, who have no way of take advantage of the company canteen service for several reasons.

These include the absence of a refectory within the company, the failure to provide meal vouchers, work-related travel or a canteen that is inaccessible due to the employee’s working hours or distance. And so in these cases, the employer will pay the allowance in question directly into the paycheck, of a certain pre-established amount, generally on the average cost of a canteen meal from the collective labor agreement.

But what value does this measure have for the purposes of calculating TFR? The crux of contention concerns precisely the calculation of the indemnity within the severance pay, or whether this emolument has a contributory nature. The answer is no, and it should be noted: in fact, through ordinance no. 7181 of 18 March 2024, the Court of Cassation established that must be excluded from the calculation by remuneration institutions, whether direct or indirect.

Simply put, it should not be included in the severance pay. However, net of any agreements negotiated independently between the worker and the company, drawn up within the collective agreement, regarding the application of the calculation within the severance pay also for the canteen allowance.