The telework has developed massively in France since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. If the implementation of this new mode of organization makes it possible to reduce energy consumption in companies, the costs are passed on to the employees. A question then arises: should your employer compensate you and contribute to your energy bill when you telework? West France answers you.
Check branch or group agreements
In a context of energy crisis once morest a backdrop of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, employees working from home, who occupy their homes all day, should see their bills climb this winter. Between electricity and heating, the questioning of costs is therefore legitimate.
However, an employer is not legally obliged to reimburse you for the energy consumption costs incurred by working from home. Unless a “flat-rate allowance is provided for by the branch collective agreement, the professional or inter-professional agreement or a group agreement”noted Urssaf. On the other hand, if your employer does not provide for the reimbursement of expenses in a charter or agreement, you are entitled to claim a lump sum indemnity.
Up to how much per month?
According to a table of evaluation of the costs incurred by the employee working from home published by Urssaf, a company can reimburse up to ten euros per month for an employee working at home one day per week, up to twenty euros per month for two days of teleworking per week and up to thirty euros per month for three days a week.
“The allowance is allocated according to the number of teleworked days”, specifies the Union for the collection of social security contributions and family allowances. And to add that “when the amount paid by the employer exceeds these limits, exemption from social charges may be accepted provided that proof of the reality of the professional expenses borne by the employee”.
Read also: Five figures that show that teleworking has become essential in companies
What regarding telework?
To meet the demand for “energy sobriety” formulated by the government, is teleworking a good or a bad idea? Several unions are skeptical, fearing a postponement of consumption at home and at the expense of employees.
“It’s a false good solution. This makes it possible to reduce energy consumption in companies, but it is passed on to employees”says Véronique Martin, at the CGT. “It shifts the costs of a company onto the employees”also believes Catherine Pinchaut, of the CFDT.
Same mixed position for Mady Gilbert, of the French Confederation of Managers and the General Confederation of Managers (CFE-CGC), “teleworking is one of the possible arrangements, with compensation” (with regard to the invoice for employees).
