Compulsory teleworking: meal vouchers, breaks … What are you entitled to?


Imposed three to four days a week in companies that can until the end of January 2022, teleworking is a key element of the government to contain the Covid-19 epidemic. But while most employees have become accustomed to it since 2020, many of them are unaware of their rights.

To help you understand all the obligations and rights that every French employee has with compulsory teleworking, here is a summary on this subject.

Negotiable teleworking time

Collective renegotiation of the company agreement fixing the duration of teleworking is possible to deal with the epidemic rebound in France. For this, employers must come to an agreement with the company’s employees and staff representatives, explains Ouest France, for example.

Employees also have the option of requesting more teleworking days if their company has not made progress on this point, but the final decision will be up to the employer. If a person is vulnerable and the protective measures are not sufficient, the person has the right to demand to work from home.

For its part, the government does not have the capacity to impose long-term teleworking because that would require including this measure in the Labor Code.

Identical protection for an accident

Article L 1 222-9 of the Labor Code indicates that any accident taking place where teleworking is carried out during the exercise of the professional activity of the teleworker is presumed to be a work accident.

A German court recognized Wednesday, December 8 that any injury caused at home in teleworking should be taken into account by insurance for accidents at work.

Maintaining the meal voucher

In face-to-face or teleworking, each employee retains the same rights in this regard. Following this logic, the allocation of meal vouchers must follow established company agreements and collective agreements.

Respect for breaks and the right to disconnect

The Ministry of Labor has indicated on its website that the rights to lunch and break time remain unchanged in teleworking.

If each employee must be available during the working hours fixed by his employer, each worker also has the right to disconnect. The latter means that an employee cannot be blamed for not having seen or responded to an email for example, however important it may be, outside of his working hours.

The provision of work tools

The company is obliged to provide all the necessary equipment so that each employee can work in the best conditions. The latter does not have the right to compel an employee to invest in this material.



Source link -80