When a company fires you, or you yourself ask for voluntary resignation, One of the documents that must be provided to you is the settlement. This involves payment for dismissal, but how long do companies have to pay the settlement?
If you find yourself in this situation and have been waiting for a long time to receive your settlement, or you want to know this information for what may happen in the future, we will tell you everything below. Shall we start?
What is a settlement
A settlement is actually a document. In it It reflects that the company and the worker have ended the employment relationship that connected them. It must contain the final settlement, which is mandatory. That is, once the employment relationship has ended, it is necessary to do a little accounting to pay that worker a final payment based on what he has been working on.
That is, the settlement contemplates:
- The salary for the days already worked and that have not yet been collected at the time of ending the relationship.
- Payments and overtime hours that have been worked and have not yet been paid.
- Vacations not taken (in this case transformed into money).
- Benefit payments and other related issues.
In other words, The settlement is something like the document that extinguishes the relationship and that puts on paper what the company owes the worker until the moment of dismissal or discharge.
Settlement vs. compensation
A common mistake when thinking about layoffs is to consider that severance pay is only given to workers who are laid off, not to those who voluntarily request leave from work. The truth is that it is not like that. There is a big difference between severance pay and severance pay.
You'll see, The settlement is a document that must be given to every worker, whether he is fired or leaves the job himself. For its part, the compensation is the document that is given to workers who are fired and is where the seniority of the worker is taken into account (the more years they have been working, the more compensation they will have).
How long do companies have to pay the settlement?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not easy. And it is not because there really is no law that regulates settlement. Unless something is reflected in the collective agreement, the company does not actually have any deadline to pay this settlement. That is, they can pay you in one month, two, three, one year... Obviously, the worker will report when he sees that there is a delay in payment...
What is clear is that When you sign the settlement, it is best that, before that, you make sure that you have received the amount that is reflected on the paper.. And this document is proof for the company that the worker has received that sum. If it is signed but not received, it is more problematic to claim it since the company can claim that it paid in cash and since there is no proof, the dismissal or discharge could "get free."
Generally, When the settlement is paid by bank transfer, it is received about forty-eight hours later after the employment relationship has ended. But other times companies decide to extend the deadline. And pay at the end of the month, when the workers' salaries are paid. They do this to avoid having to continually make transfers or payments, even if it means having that worker unpaid.
Therefore, if at any time the company presents you with the settlement paper without having paid you, or specifying when it will pay you, you can sign the document making clear your non-conformity with what you are signing and noting the date, so that you can have the opportunity to initiate the claim or demand procedures.
When the dismissal is by the employer and the worker does not agree or suspects that it may be unfair, one of the business practices is to delay the delivery of the settlement as much as possible so that the worker cannot challenge the dismissal. As you know, every worker can make a claim for dismissal within 20 business days. If the company terminates the contract later on purpose, it may be an indication that the dismissal is not as "legal" as it may seem.
What happens if the company does not pay
If after the time that companies have to pay the settlement you have not received the payment, then a process is initiated to claim it.
The first thing to do is try to talk to the company to try to solve the problem amicably and as quickly as possible. If the relationship ended badly, or The company refuses, the only way to continue with the claim will be to go through the courts. What will mean you contact a lawyer who represents you and with whom you can try to reach an agreement with the company.
When a claim is made, the first step will be to hold a conciliation meeting. This is to try to get the company and the worker to reach an agreement. But, if this is not the case, then an "official" claim will have to be filed in the corresponding Social Court.
Now, based on what we have told you before, There is no deadline to pay. So, when should the worker start the claim? Well, by law, it is estimated that this claim must be made within one year of the signing of the settlement and the termination of the employment relationship. Beyond that time, the statute of limitations may have expired and it will be more difficult for the claim to be accepted.
How to pay the settlement
When paying, The company has no obligation to do so by a specific means of payment. But the normal thing is that you do it through a bank transfer.
Sometimes payment in cash or checks is also accepted.
Now that you know how much time companies have to pay the settlement and other aspects of payment, is everything clear to you? Have you ever had to go further to get the company to pay your settlement?