Meal vouchers: government postpones option to change flag – 05/02/2023 – Market

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed an MP (provisional measure) this Monday (1st) that postpones for one year the possibility of the worker to change the management company of the meal voucher and food voucher.

The portability option, which would come into force this Monday, was postponed to May 1, 2024, as well as the alternative of interoperability between brands, that is, the worker being able to use the card in restaurants that are not accredited to his flag.

If the establishment accepts payment in meal vouchers, it would have to accept all flags.

Flag portability and interoperability were part of MP 1,108 of 2022, signed in March of that year by then-president Jair Bolsonaro. At the time, the ABBT (Brazilian Association of Employee Benefit Companies), which represents 20 companies in the sector, said it was against portability and interoperability.

Part of the MP signed by Bolsonaro was subsequently transformed into a law that changed some rules of the benefit as early as September 2022.

Meal vouchers and food vouchers are now used only to pay for meals in restaurants and snack bars or to purchase food. If the benefit is used for other purposes, establishments can be fined with amounts ranging from R$5,000 to R$50,000 or even be disqualified.

Meal voucher and food stamp companies were prohibited from granting discounts to employers who hire their services. Previously, for example, the company could buy BRL 100,000 in food and meal vouchers, but it would receive a discount and could pay BRL 90,000.

80% of companies offer food vouchers, indicates research

A survey carried out by VR in partnership with the Locomotiva Institute in 2022 showed that workers today have more access to food stamps and meal vouchers than before the coronavirus pandemic.

“When we ask what benefits companies currently offer, 80% of them respond that they provide food vouchers to employees. In the period before Covid, this number was 69%. In the case of meal vouchers, 54% of these companies say they offer this benefit today, but before the pandemic only 48% did”, says Priscila Abondanza, executive director of customer experience at VR.

The survey was answered by around 500 HR professionals belonging to VR base companies. Data collection was carried out from July to September 2022 in different regions of Brazil. The margin of error is 4.2 percentage points.

For 82% of the HR representatives surveyed by VR, offering food vouchers is important when hiring a worker. Meal vouchers are seen as relevant by 68% of respondents and 47% of them consider it important to offer the multi-benefit card.