Justice sentenced him to pay more than $800 million to a former employee and its owner complained

The Supreme Court of Justice of Mendoza condemned Refres Now SAthe company that owns soft drinks Manaus and now too Cunningtonof Orlando Canido, to pay more than $800 million to a former employee who worked as a distributor in that province, San Juan and La Pampa between 2013 and 2022.

The judicial decision came after an extensive dispute initiated by the former worker in the Mendoza courts, who denounced dismissal without cause, irregularities in labor registration, illegal deductions and pension evasion maneuvers.

According to the case, the subject began his work in October 2013, but argued that the employment relationship was only formalized in 2015 and pointed out that the company used unclear agreements and contracts that did not reflect the reality of the relationship.

The Second Chamber of Labor of San Rafael originally set compensation of nearly $1.5 billionsum composed of $227 million capital and more than $1.2 billion in interest and costs.

But Canido appealed the ruling and the dispute reached the Court of Mendozawhich partially admitted the appeal and reduced the figure by more than half a million dollars: finally, determined that he must pay $807,676,293.72a sum that generates interest until full payment, stipulated within a period of five business days.

However, in public statements, Canido questioned the decision of the Mendoza Justice. He considered that it is an “unusual and absolutely out of context” ruling. “He worked for me for about six or seven years, I don’t know how much I could earn as a salesman, I don’t know what account they do to arrive at those figures”, he reproached.

He added that he respects the rights of workers, but that labor law must review the issue of compensation. “Perhaps, he had three provinces and they left him one and that is why he sued”, he considered about the specific case.

The highest court upheld the main conviction for dismissal and hidden employment relationshipbut modified the way of calculating interest, applying the free use loan rate of Banco Nación.

In that sense, sets a precedent in the midst of the treatment of labor reform due to the judicial interpretation of labor registration and the calculation of interest in cases of dismissal, a point referred to in the labor modernization law promoted by the Government, which seeks to put an end to the different criteria of labor judges when calculating updates.

The labor reform with half a sanction in the Senate contemplates that companies already They do not have to answer for their suppliers in the case of outsourced tasks.

In October, Canido was summoned for investigation by Federal Court 3 of Morón due to a complaint from ARCA against him and his brother and director of the company, Norberto Canido, of aggravated evasion of Profits, VAT and Internal Taxes for more than $805 million corresponding to 2018 and 2020.

In turn, the former AFIP asked that it be opened an investigation into alleged trout sales tickets issued to 80 fake distributorsof which half (39) appear in the agency’s ‘unreliable’ taxpayer base corresponding to 2021 and 2022. Manaus does not have direct sale to the public. In that sense, sales to wholesalers would have been for more than $10 billionfunds from which ARCA could not reconstruct the movements.

Canido had already been investigated by the then AFIP in 2018, for alleged tax evasion. In one of these operations, He was accused of evading $900 million due to alleged financial deviations and tax inconsistencies, which led the tax collection agency to put its business model based on low prices and a non-traditional distribution chain under scrutiny.

Last June, with his signature Refres Now, and by US$74 millionCanid bought the Cunnington and Neuss brandspreviously in the hands of the firm Water Products (Proea), to grow in the non-alcoholic beverage business. In addition, I would be interested in purchasing table and flavored waters Purity of the Sierras.