Salary payment via bank transfer to be obligatory in Moldovan urban areas

Chisinau, 6 April /MOLDPRES/- Employees in urban areas will receive their salaries on accounts or cards via bank transfers, at the expense of their employers. A draft law amending and supplementing the law on wage payment to this effect, was approved by the cabinet today. According to it, employees from rural areas will have the right to receive their salaries both in cash or via bank transfers, upon their written request.

The payment of cash wages in the urban area shall be accepted for a three-month period, if the payment service provider is incapacitated for work.

The draft law aims to “enhance the employees’ registered contribution share and reduce “envelope wages”.

The National Public Budget is annually losing approximately 5.6 billion lei because of the “envelope wages”. According to research institutions, the amount of “envelope wages” accounts for about 15.5 billion lei or 50 per cent of the annual work remuneration fund. Trade unions say informal employment is a form of tax evasion, which is considered to be the second most serious offence after homicide in most of the countries from Europe and North America.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 15.6 per cent of all the employed citizens involved in the Moldovan economy, worked in the informal sector in 2015, while 34.8 per cent of the citizens had an informal job. On the other hand, one in ten employees says they receive a part (1.6 per cent of the employees) or the entire (7.1 per cent) salary in envelope. “Envelope wages” are predominant in agriculture (48.9 per cent), trade (20.0 per cent) and industry (6.3 per cent).

The draft law is to be examined and adopted by the parliament.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)