Salary deductions: see what you can and cannot do

Salary deductions: read the text until the end and find out everything you can and cannot do. We have put together a guide to help you with this issue!

After a long month of work, any worker's goal is to make the most of their paycheck.

Whether it's paying bills, saving money or even choosing to invest that amount, regardless of where that amount ends up, salary is undoubtedly the main motivation for those who work for pay.

And because it is so important, you must always be aware of any discounts that may arise throughout your professional life. And that is what we are going to talk about today!

In today's content, you will learn more about your salary and the discounts involved in your payment, also understanding which are allowed and which are not.

The following material will be divided into topics and, throughout the text, will address the following themes:

• The importance of understanding salary
• Salary discounts
• Salary deductions: what can and cannot be done?
• Conclusion

The importance of understanding salary

After a period – usually 30 days – of providing some service, payment of a salary is the worker's main right.

Understanding how your salary works is essential for the worker's life. Through this understanding, the employee can have more autonomy over their credits and debits throughout the month.

This type of understanding also has a direct effect on the worker's financial life. By understanding all the discounts and benefits that are part of their payment routine, the worker can manage their finances with greater clarity and precision.

Understanding your own salary well is essential for professionals to understand their role – and importance – in the company's routine.

Furthermore, it is necessary to understand all aspects of your salary to understand how the discounts that involve your monthly remuneration work. And it is about these discounts that we are going to talk about now.

Salary discounts

If you work under the CLT regime – one of the most widely used systems when starting an employment relationship here in Brazil – you are already more than accustomed to the various discounts that encompass the good old “signed employment contract”.

As much as these discounts may seem like villains that compromise the integrity of your salary, the situation is not quite like that.

It is through these discounts that Brazilian workers are able to access a series of labor rights.

Salary deductions: what can and cannot be done?

Now that you know a little more about the importance of understanding your own salary and the presence of discounts on your payroll, it's time to learn more about the main discounts that can exist on a salary and which can and cannot be discounted.

What can

If you already have some work experience and have worked with a formal contract, you are probably already familiar with – or have at least heard of – the discounts we will discuss in this topic. They are:

FGTS

The Severance Pay Guarantee Fund (FGTS) is one of the discounts that represent one of the worker's rights.

Designed to offer assistance to employees dismissed without just cause, the FGTS consists of a discount of 8% from the worker's salary.

This amount is deposited monthly by the employer into the employee's FGTS account. This amount can be accessed by the employee in certain situations, such as unfair dismissal or through an agreement between employer and employee, for example.

INSS

Another discount that is well-known to those who follow the CLT is the INSS. The acronym, which stands for National Institute of Social Security, is the discount related to the worker's social security contribution.

It is Brazil's public social security system.

The purpose of this discount is to guarantee income to the taxpayer in cases such as illness, accidents and even old age – such as retirement – or death. In this case, assistance can also be offered to family members.

This discount varies according to the worker's category and salary range, and can be between 7.5% and 14%.

What can't be done?

In this regard, there are several types of discounts that may even seem plausible to unsuspecting workers, but in fact they can – and should – be considered as soon as the worker realizes their presence.

Transport voucher

Although it is a benefit present in almost all employment contracts, the discount for the payment of transportation vouchers is optional and can be revoked by the employee's decision. If the employee chooses not to receive this benefit, the discount on his/her salary – which is around 6% – will no longer be made.

Damage caused by employees

Except in cases where there is proof that there was an intention to damage the company's assets or in clauses present in the contract signed by the employee upon joining the company, any damage that an employee may cause to the company cannot be deducted from his/her salary.

Late discounts

One of the main topics when it comes to salary discounts, there is a lot of talk about discounts for late payment in companies.

It turns out that the discount can indeed occur, but it is necessary to respect some aspects. For example: a worker who is up to 10 minutes late per day cannot have their salary deducted.

Now, when these delays exceed this limit, being more than 10 minutes, measures that involve everything from warnings to payroll deductions can be adopted. The same happens in cases of unjustified absences.

Conclusion

As you can see, you need to always keep an eye on all the discounts involved in your payment.

Checking your monthly pay slip is an excellent way to verify that the deductions on your payroll are consistent with your employment contract.

When noticing any type of change that is beyond their understanding, the ideal is for the worker to seek clarification regarding the discount and, thus, better understand how their salary works.

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Content Team Theadmin January 14, 2022