Since the generalization of teleworking during confinement, the subject of meal vouchers has crystallized tensions between employees and management. Taking advantage of a latent legal vagueness, several companies had in fact refused to grant this advantage to their teleworking employees. The first legal appeals resulted in contradictory decisions depending on the jurisdiction: while Paris supported the rights of teleworkers, certain cities like Nanterre validated their exclusion.
This October 8, 2025, the Court of Cassation put an end to all ambiguity: no employer can justify the refusal to grant meal vouchers on the sole criterion of teleworking. This position is in accordance with articles L.3262-1 and R.3262-7 of the Labor Code, which classify the meal voucher as a means of payment intended for any employee whose meal is part of their daily schedule, without distinction on the place of exercise. More concretely: the nature of the position (face-to-face or remote) must never serve as an exclusive argument for refusing meal vouchers. A consensus, now shared by the Ministry of Labor and URSSAF, which closes a turbulent legal episode and secures the rights of teleworkers.
Employers under pressure
If the decision represents a symbolic victory for employees, its repercussions are also concrete and immediate. The meal ticket, whose average value reaches €9.40 in 2025, weighs nearly €200 per month in the wallets of the workers concerned. A financial supplement that significantly improves daily lifeat a time when the food budget weighs heavily on purchasing power.
On the employer side, the affair could generate strong tensionsespecially in sectors where teleworking has become the rule and where the cumulative cost of meal vouchers becomes a significant financial windfall. No more discrimination based on the way of working: any internal policy must henceforth guarantee equal treatment, at the risk of being emulated. Remember, however, that it will always be possible for the employee to refuse meal vouchers. All you need to do is send a letter to the employer to notify them of your refusal to benefit from the system.
In summary
- Teleworking employees are entitled to meal vouchers if their face-to-face colleagues benefit from them for similar working hours.
- Refusal of the system based on the sole reason of teleworking becomes illegal, where until now it benefited from legal vagueness.
- An employee can always refuse meal vouchers, simply send a letter to their employer to notify them of this decision.
The strength of this new legal framework lies in its simplicity: from now on, any employee whose working day is equivalent to that of a colleague on site must be able to benefit from the same advantages, including meal vouchers. Refusal based on teleworking no longer stands before the law. More broadly, this clarification could serve as a model for other issues related to the rights of teleworkers. It remains to be seen how employers will adapt their HR policies to this new paradigm.
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