Employees in the hotel and restaurant industry, particularly due to the shift schedules and schedules specific to their profession, often have to eat on site. Behind this reality, HCR payroll managers are always subject to obligations. They must adapt to the presence or absence of employees at the establishment during mealtimes.
🥗Meal benefits in kind, what are we talking about?
Meal benefits in kind represent the obligation for employers in the hotel and restaurant industry to feed their staffwithout charging them for their meals. Otherwise, a compensatory allowance must be paid.
Generally speaking, this benefit is considered a salary supplement. Therefore, a meal that meets the conditions for a benefit in kind can never be deducted from the salary.
👉The conditions for applying the benefit in kind meal in HCR
This obligation to provide a benefit in kind only occurs if two very specific circumstances are met:
- The establishment must be open to customers at that time
- At the same time, the employee must be on duty and therefore present on site
This therefore means that both full-time and part-time employees benefit from this benefit in kind. And this applies as much to the people in the kitchen as to all other employees of the establishment, whether administrative or cleaning staff, regardless of rank, salary, or working hours. In all cases, the same conditions for opening the premises and presence at work are mandatory.
💶Compensatory allowance when meals are not provided in HCR
The absence of meals remains marginal, given that a restaurant provides food by definition. But it does happen in cafes with this sole activity or in a hotel that does not have a restaurant. Both must nevertheless follow the collective catering agreement. Thus,in the event of a meal not being provided to staff, the employer must pay compensatory compensation.
This can be set by company agreement, respecting the minimum amount set by Urssaf. In 2021, it was €4.95 for a meal.
📌Please note: subject to the HCR collective agreement, the compensatory allowance is not treated on payroll as a benefit in kind (in other words, "classic" in other sectors).
And HCR benefits in kind are in all cases included in the calculation of social security contributions and paid leave.
📊The meal benefit in kind in payroll variables
The circumstances that determine the provision of meals in HCR are, as previously stated, the presence of staff during customer opening hours. So, on the payroll, this benefit by definition only concerns days worked and is considered part of the salary. Similarly, the meal benefit in kind counts in the calculation of paid leave compensation.
💡How to easily calculate meal benefits in kind to complete payroll?
Organizing your HR management in HCR relies on constant adjustments that require time-consuming payroll variable management. To save many hours over a month and use them on higher value-added tasks, Skello offers you a solution that automatically calculates your employees' hours. It simultaneously generates all the variable payroll elements, including meal benefits in kind related to your collective agreement.
