Since the start of the health crisis, a certain vagueness has reigned around meal vouchers for teleworking employees : Are they entitled to it? Is their attribution by the employer optional or compulsory? A decision rendered on March 10 by the Nanterre court should clear up the situation.
The judges considered that the meal voucher constitutes a benefit granted by the employer which does not result from any legal obligation
. In other words, nothing obliges the employer to provide meal vouchers to its employees when they work from home. The case concerned employees of the company Malakoff Humanis, from whom meal vouchers were withdrawn in March 2020 for days teleworked.
No additional cost
However, we can read on the site service-public.fr, what the teleworker has the same rights as the employee who works on site in the premises of the company
. This equal treatment is even enshrined in the Labor Code. But, and this is all the nuance, it is only valid equivalent working conditions
. Or meal vouchers are precisely made to compensate for the additional cost of eating out of the home. Additional cost which disappears when one works from home, with his kitchen nearby, estimated the judges.
Half half
There are no additional expenses, so no need to compensate the employee
, details Me Robinet, lawyer specializing in labor law. Granting meal vouchers to teleworkers is therefore at the employer’s goodwill. From what I see, half continue to do so. After months of widespread teleworking, some companies are finding it is straining the budget
, notes the specialist.
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