.jpg)
The health crisis that we have experienced and are still going through right now has profoundly changed the way we live, and especially the way we work.
Due to the contagious nature of the Covid virus, we have had to limit our contacts and interactions. Teleworking, which already existed before, then emerged as the solution in order to be able to continue working, all from home and no longer from the workplace. However, working from home is a significant cost.
On February 9, 2021, Élisabeth Borne, former Minister of Labor, spoke on this subject behind the microphone of Sud Radio: “The rule is clear: teleworking should not represent a cost for the employee. The costs generated must be borne by the employer in accordance with procedures discussed within each company, with employee representatives.” However, in practice, does this mean that the employer is liable for financial compensation for the costs generated by teleworking?
In an official government statement, it is specified that “the employer is not required to pay his employee a teleworking allowance intended to reimburse him for the expenses arising from teleworking, unless the company has an agreement or a charter that provides for it”.
The rules relating to the compensation for remote work therefore seem to be vague and are a source of numerous confusions. What does one need to understand?
Is my employer obliged to pay me compensation because I am teleworking?
Among the various questions that remote work benefits create, we will focus on the following five key questions:
First of all, can I benefit from teleworking benefits? If yes, what is the amount? If not, what can I benefit from? What about transport allowances? Finally, how do I find my remote work allowance in my payroll tools?
1) Can I benefit from remote working benefits?
A remote worker, according to the Labor Code, has same rights as all employees in his company. Among the rights he has, he benefits from access to training, to company social activities, to health and safety at work, but also to respect for his private life and a right to disconnect. But what about remote working?
“the professional expenses incurred by the employee must be borne by the employer”
Until 2017, businesses had for obligation to bear the costs arising directly from the implementation of teleworking and its financial year, for example expenses related to telephone subscriptions, equipment... However, an ordinance in 2017 swept away all these obligations. The only legal text that therefore remains in force on the conditions for compensation for teleworking is a judgment of the Court of Cassation dating from 2001. In this judgment, it is stated that “the professional expenses incurred by the employee must be borne by the employer”. In fact, this ruling encourages companies to take action against their employees, but don't force them.
The law does not require companies to compensate their remote workers, so each company is free to pay compensation or not. If it wants to compensate her workers, it has two options.
The company can do it in form monthly allowances or else in the form of repayments (which works on the same principle as expense reports).
NB: if no professional premises are available to you to work (total teleworking mandatory) and therefore, you are forced to telework from home, then you can benefit from A home occupancy benefit which is added to your telework allowance.
2) What is the amount?
The amount of benefits depends primarily on the form that these benefits take and on what has been provided for in the company's charter.
First of all, telework benefits can take the form of monthly allowances proportional to the number of teleworking days performed per month.
In fact, they range from €10 per month if the individual works from home for 1 day per week, up to €50 per month if 100% of the time is teleworking. These regulations are exempt from social security contributions as long as they comply with the previous conditions recommended by URSSAF.
However, URSSAF does not prohibit companies from paying an amount greater than these recommendations; it only specifies the exemption conditions for companies. Since 2021, it is no longer mandatory to provide supporting documents to URSSAF in order to benefit from them. So the objective is here to encourage employers to set up this type of system.
In addition, this financing can take the form of “compensation”, but this requires a prior agreement with the company on what it wishes to reimburse or not to the teleworker.
Indeed, a teleworker will not be able to turn against his company for non-reimbursement of expenses related to the exercise of teleworking if the latter did not ask, before incurring expenses on his part, whether his company wanted to reimburse them to him or not. This compensation then takes the form of Expense reports. The employee is reimbursed for his various expenses by providing supporting documents (invoices,...). Most often, the company sets up a collective agreement in order to provide for reimbursement arrangements with the help of union representatives. These fees may cover the bill for electricity, equipment, etc.
However, the company can also draw up a unilateral charter to specify the conditions of application if no agreement is in place with the employees. In both options, the charter is submitted to the CSE which verifies its validity.
3) What are the employer's obligations towards remote workers?
The teleworker, according to article 1222-10 of the Labor Code, has the same rights as the employee who works under standard conditions. The law promotes equal treatment between employees, regardless of the conditions in which they work.
URSSAF recommends that workers discuss with their company before setting up teleworking, on issues of materials, equipment and costs.
The company cannot therefore force its workers to use their personal equipment when working from home, as they would be discriminated against compared to those who work from the company's premises and who benefit from the equipment present there.
With regard to the purchase of equipment adapted to the exercise of teleworking, URSSAF recommends that workers discuss with their company before setting up teleworking, on issues of materials, equipment and costs.
Ideally, the worker writes a list of equipment that is essential for teleworking (laptop, printer, internet connection, remote access to the company's server, etc.).
In the absence of an agreement, the company is free to refuse the reimbursement of these costs.
4) The case of transport
Once again, the company should not make a difference in treatment between an employee who works from home and one who works from offices. In addition to this non-discrimination clause, for businesses, the legal obligation to reimburse up to 50% of the costs associated with the commuting of their employees (ticket or subscription).
The issue of travel costs is all the more difficult as Covid and the repetition of lockdowns have forced a number of workers to live in the countryside and therefore to move away from their workplace.
Now, some workers live far from their company offices, sometimes several hundred kilometers away.
In this case, does the company have to pay for the travel expenses of these workers to the office?
The company must reimburse the costs related to transport under the usual conditions and must not make a distinction from the days of teleworking during which the individual does not travel.
The company, from a legal point of view, does not have the right to influence the place of residence of its employees. Therefore, it must compensate 50% of travel costs. The Ministry of Labor specifies that this rule applies when teleworking is carried out alternately, that is, when it takes place a few days a week. The company must reimburse the costs related to transport under the usual conditions and must not make a distinction from the days of teleworking during which the individual does not travel.
5) How can I find my remote work allowance in my payroll tools?
The telework allowance is one of the monthly cash inflows that the company pays to its employee. You can therefore find it on your payslip. However, depending on the compensation method used, it is found in different places.
First of all, if the company follows the URSSAF compensation grid, then the compensation paid is deducted from social security contributions. It is then visible at the bottom of the pay slip in the part that is not subject to social security contributions.
Second possibility, the company does not want to follow the URSSAF scale, which it has every right to do, and decides to pay an amount greater than €50/month which is exempt from contributions, for example let's take €70. Part of this amount will be exempt from social security contributions, i.e. €50, the maximum amount covered by URSSAF. The surplus, i.e. €20, is taxable and subject to the social security contributions that go with it.
In these two cases, the collaborator will need Declare each day, or half-day, of teleworking to your employer. To do this, very simple tools allow you to do it in a few clicks. In m-work, each employee indicates their presence in the office and their teleworking. This information is then sent directly to the company's payroll software to allow the calculation of the compensation and/or expenses covered, according to rules set by the company.
Learn more about m-work / Make an appointment
Concretely, on the pay slip, the allowance is divided into two, the non-exempt part at the top of the page with the various elements subject to social security contributions, the second part is visible at the bottom in the part where the exempt amounts are recorded.
