In France, the working code makes it possible to regulate the working conditions for business employees. Among the many rules, there is one rather unknown than one in four employees who would regularly break in the office and who place them in illegality.
The working world is governed by a set of legal rules that frame the relationship between employers and employees. The law of work In particular to protect workers’ interests and to maintain their social results such as wages, working hours or access to leave. These rules are grouped in the work code, which covers several areas such as hygiene, health or safety at work.
In hygiene there is a rather strict, more strict frame than one might think, especially regarding the meals that are consumed in business. The employer is thus obliged to make available to his staff to a place dedicated to taking meals, meet strict health and safety criteria.
When the workforce exceeds 50 employees, the law requires that this catering space is at least equipped with a refrigerator for storing food, a unit for reheating dishes, a water point and chairs and tables in sufficient quantities. These demands aim to offer employees a comfortable and functional space to eat in good conditions.
Photo Credit: Istock
To have their meal, the Employees have a duration defined by the work code as specified in Article L3121-16:
“As soon as the daily working time reaches six hours, the employee has a break time for a minimum duration of twenty consecutive minutes”
It is important to note that this duration can be expanded with a collective agreement or collective agreement.
A bad habit taken by 25% of private employees
The other unknown curiosity at the work code therefore relates to the place where it is forbidden to let the workers take their meals. These are the premises assigned to work.
For health considerations, lunch on your post in front of your computer screen is in principle prohibited by French law. However, this practice seems widespread if we believe that a study is conducted in 2019 by job regions among more than 1,000 active workers. If a majority of them eat in the canteen or in the break room, 24% of respondents admit to taking their meals in front of their computer several times during the week.
Photo Credit: Istock
According to Maître Camille Vanneau, a lawyer who specializes in labor law, an employee is exposed to a disciplinary sanction “If a space is made available and if his employer has informed him of an internal note or in the internal rules of the impossibility of taking his lunch break at his workstation.”
A measure that may surprise employees who work in an office environment and have taken so badly habitWithout suspecting it was an illegal practice.
