A meal allowance allowance is an on-the-job meal allowance for employees. According to the provisions of the Labor Law, every employee of the company has the right to be paid for a meal allowance.
The employer is legally obliged to provide workers with the right to use a meal allowance. He is not obligated only if he provided them with food in some other way. When we say employees, we mean persons who, as a type of employment, have an established employment relationship.
There are two possibilities for reimbursing employees for the expenses they will have for food during work, and they are:
- that the employer provides meals to the employee during working hours at his own expense,
- to pay compensation to employees for meals during work.
This means the following – if the company does not provide food to the employee during work, it is obliged to pay him compensation for the cost of food during work.
What the Law does not foresee and does not impose as an obligation is the amount of compensation that will be paid for these needs. Therefore, below follows a detailed explanation regarding this topic.
The height of a meal allowance
The Labor Law obliges the employer to express food costs in value. In other words, the cost of a meal allowance must be expressed in money. However, the amount of the meal allowance is not precisely defined by law, but can be determined by the employer arbitrarily.
E.g. a decision can be made that the remuneration for a meal allowance be a fixed amount, then the amount on a daily basis per meal, as a percentage in relation to some related data (average salary) or some other way according to what the employer decides.
The company is not obliged to determine either the maximum or minimum amount for a meal allowance. Practically, it does not limit it. The employer has the freedom to independently determine the amount of compensation for a meal allowance, and in practice this is usually in accordance with the company’s financial capabilities.
He has certain obligations, which relate to the following:
- that the amount, conditions, as well as the method of providing or paying compensation for a meal allowance are defined by the general act of the company (regulations, collective agreement), as well as by the employment contract with employees;
- the amount of the meal allowance for all employees must be stated in the payroll.
Obligations of the employer regarding compensation for a meal allowance
We wrote about all the obligations of the employer when he establishes an employment relationship with the employee. A meal allowance is one of them, but the amount of compensation for a meal allowance is nowhere defined as an obligation of the employer.
What is an obligation is another – to declare, calculate and pay the amount that the employer decides for reimbursement of expenses, as well as to express that amount in money. So, how much is the reimbursement of expenses for a meal allowance is defined by the company’s general act, rulebook or employment contract.
Also, there is no mandatory minimum or maximum for the payment of these expenses, but all conditions, method of payment and the amount of the meal allowance must be regulated by a general act with the employer (collective agreement or labor regulations) or a labor contract with each employee.
What is the compensation for a meal allowance is the decision of the employer and there is no exact amount to be paid as an obligation, but it is an obligation to pay and that the amount of the compensation for a meal allowance, the conditions and the method are specified in the act.
The amount of compensation for a meal allowance should be the same for all employees, regardless of the employee’s professional qualification, title and workplace.
The right of employees to payment of work-related expenses
Employees, that is, persons in an employment relationship, have certain rights guaranteed by law. This includes the right to a meal allowance.
The other expenses that arise in connection with work and for which the employee has the right to realize based on the employment relationship include:
- the cost of coming and going from work, equal to the price of a public transport ticket, if the company has not provided its own transport to the employee and thus pays the travel expenses;
- expenses for the time spent on a business trip in the country;
- expenses for the time spent on a business trip abroad;
- the cost of accommodation and food for work and stay in the field, if the company did not provide accommodation and food free of charge;
- expense for vacation leave;
- expenses for meals during work, if the company has not provided this right in another way (meal allowance).
The compensation for a meal allowance is earnings
In accordance with the Labor Law, compensation for a meal allowance is considered earnings. This means that a meal allowance, i.e. compensation for food expenses during work, is subject to the obligation to calculate and pay taxes and contributions, as a type of income that is treated as earnings.
This is important to point out because of some specific situations that arise, such as when the employer is obliged to pay the employee salary compensation, for example, during the use of annual leave, paid leave, sick leave and the like. Then he has the obligation to pay the salary in the average amount for the last 12 months, and that average includes all earnings that are treated as salary, which includes the allowance for a meal allowance.
When the right to a meal allowance is exercised – on which days
Compensation for a meal allowance is realized only for the days when the employee worked (every day he was at work).
The right to a meal allowance cannot be exercised for those days when the employee did not work, i.e. when he was not at work. For example. during sick leave, annual vacation, paid leave, as well as unpaid leave.
Meal allowance and minimum wage
To make this question clearer, ie. whether employees who receive the minimum wage have the right to a meal allowance, we will only remind you what the wage consists of.
In accordance with the Labor Law, earnings consist of:
- salary for work performed and time spent at work (basic salary, part of salary for work performance and increased salary);
- earnings based on the employee’s contribution to the employer’s business success (rewards, bonuses, etc.);
- other income.
In addition, the Law defines that an employee has the right to receive a minimum salary for standard performance and time spent at work. The minimum wage has a specific treatment and the amount is determined based on the minimum price of work, time spent at work, as well as taxes and contributions paid from the wages.
An employee who receives the minimum wage can exercise the right to an increase in wages (when it comes to work during a holiday that falls as a non-working day, for night or overtime work, and the like). Then, he can exercise the right to reimbursement of expenses, as well as to other incomes that are considered earnings.
In this regard, an employee who receives the minimum wage is also entitled to reimbursement of expenses for a meal allowance. That amount is paid to him in addition to the amount that covers the minimum wage. In other words, the costs of the meal allowance allowance are not included in the amount of the calculated minimum wage, but they are added to the amount of the minimum wage.
For additional questions and information about payroll services in Belgrade, please contact us. The accounting agency HLB TM DOO is available for all the necessary information in order to adapt the existing solutions to your business.
