The Labour Code does not contain specific provisions concerning meal vouchers.
The Court of Appeal ruled in 2015 that the purpose of a meal voucher is to enable an employee to eat a main meal during a day of work and that the use of meal vouchers after work and during periods of inactivity (leave, maternity leave, etc.) is excluded. In a judgment of 9 February 2017, the Court of Appeal also decided that meal vouchers constitute a reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with work and not an element of wages to be paid each month.
It appears that the reasoning followed by the judges is based on the tax legislation which provides in particular, in Article 2 of the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 29 December 1986 on the implementation of Article 115(21) of the law on income tax, as amended, that the sole aim of meal vouchers is to enable an employee to eat a meal at a restaurant during a working day. Meal vouchers should therefore be given only to employees who actually do a day’s work.
Also, as matters stand, and in the absence of case law confirming entitlement to meal vouchers during periods of incapacity for work, the question of the provision of meal vouchers in those circumstances might be open to discussion.