Worthless contract

From time to time my wife worked as translator of documents from/to, English, Italian, German. She had a contract with the state finance department (Guardia Finanza) to translate documents, about local suspected tax-dodgers, from Italian to German. This is because we live in a German speaking region of Italy and most of the state employees that carry guns, such as the Carabinieri and the tax man, don't always speak German as a first language.  In 2009 she discovered that she was not going to get paid for the work she has done, which amounted to more than 1500 euro. They did not inform her of this, she found out only because she called to enquire where her payment was.

The government in Rome decided that to save money they would no longer be paying for the translating of documents since there ought to be enough dual language speakers by now. Putting that broad-brush-sweeping comment aside for now, it was on the day that my wife's payment was about to be stamped for approval for funds to be released, that the local department received that message from Rome.

Since there is so much red tape and so many spineless decision makers within the Italian system, no one would take responsibility or admit that perhaps those who had worked BEFORE this decision are still entitled to receive payment. It was work that they had been contracted to do, and had supplied the finished translated documents.

Why is this not illegal? Surely a government cannot employ someone and then not pay them? Having a written legal contract in this country amounts to nothing, if the government themselves do not respect them, then why should anyone else?

They advised her to contact the other 10 people in the area that are also not getting paid and then together take the State to court, because it would be too costly for her to do it alone.

They obviously realised that they would get away with it. Even a solicitor had suggested that it is pretty much impossible to do anything about it. That advice along with a solicitor's letter cost €250.

And what happens if one of us refuses to pay tax?... The same tax men with guns arrive, take everything away, give you big fines and perhaps even go as far as using hand cuffs and prison bars. We have to pay bills, we cannot decide that to save money we won't pay, but they can. Is it any wonder that uniforms and politicians are so despised and not trusted by their own citizens.

It seems that by visiting one's regional parliamentarian at his daily surgery, things may get done. It means getting copies of all the necessary paperwork and records of communication with the tax department, standing in the first-come-first-served line at 6am in the morning. You get about 5 minutes. I think my wife had made a good impression, he said he would speak to the relevant chief of department.

A few weeks later she received a notification that she will indeed receive her payments for work she had completed two years previous.

However, they didn't say when.

Within a couple of months the payment arrived. People should not have to fight to get what they are entitled to. However, here in Italy they do.