Employee Food Provision Bill

A

BILL

TO

Require employers to provide employees who fulfil certain criteria with meals without charge during working hours

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows –

Section 1: Mandatory Food Provision

(1) An eligible person (A) under this act is a person who is employed by person (B), and is required to work for a period greater than 6 hours

(2) Wherein person B employs an eligible person A, person B shall be required to provide a suitable meal for person A during meal breaks. A suitable meal shall be defined as:

(a) a meal consisting of no less than 20g of protein and be no less than 500 calories,

(b) a meal of appropriate quality, without spoilage or reasonable suspicion of spoilage,

(c) a meal without requirement placed upon person A for remuneration of person B,

(d) a meal meeting reasonable dietary requirements as expressed by person A, such as but not limited to: vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal, and food allergies.

(3) Person B may not lower Person A’s wages in order to cover the cost of meals provided.

(4) Person B is not obligated to provide a meal should Person A expressly waive their right.

(5) If Person B is unable or unwilling to provide a meal at the place of employment, they must provide an allowance to person A equivalent to £10 per shift of at least 6 hours

(a) The allowance figure will be automatically adjusted in tandem with the Consumer Price Index

Section 2: Punishment

(1) The relevant department for employment may issue fines for any repeated violation of Section 1 that involves an employee or multiple employees across a timespan of greater than a week

(2) A violation of section 1 will require person A to be compensated by person B

Section 3: Full Title, Commencement, and Extent

(1) This Act shall extend to England

(2) This Act comes into force 6 months after the day on which this Act is passed.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Employee Food Provision Act.

This Bill was submitted by The Secretary of State of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport /u/Itsholmgangthen on behalf of Solidarity

Opening Speech:

This bill may sound familiar to some members of the house. In fact, I proposed a similar piece of legislation approximately 2 years ago, but today this legislation is more necessary than ever. To have employees well-fed is always in the best interests of their employer. It makes people more productive, and thus they are better at making their employer money. Why, then, must it be the employees' concern to get food while at work? Either they have to prep it themselves, taking up time they could be spending relaxing and enjoying their time off, or they have to spend a good deal to buy lunch while on their break - especially when prices are spiralling with inflation. Simply put, this bill makes things easier and cheaper for employees while not making things much harder for employers. In many cases, they'll already have a canteen where they can make food cheaply, or they can simply pick up some food on their way to work each day. And if they don't want to deal with it, employees can simply expense their meal. It's an easy and effective system. I urge all members of the house to support this legislation.

This division ends on Friday 5th May at 10pm BST.