I work in the care with mentally ill patients and have two 20 minute breaks a day.
There is only ever one member of staff on their break at any given time incase an incident may occur.
During breaks staff sometimes run errands (picking kids up from school, filling the car up with petrol or even going to their car and making a phone call) we all live locally and never exceed our 20 minutes, due to the hours we work we have to do these things on our breaks
We dont get paid for our breaks however our employer has recently stated that we must stay in the staff room and not leave the hospital incase an incident occurs, however there is always plenty of staff on the hospital floor when a person is on break.
Can my employer dictate where i have my break and what i do in my break times?
2006-12-15 03:50:01 · 11 answers · asked by Becci 4 in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment
There wasn't an incident that caused my boss to decide this, a member of management tends to dislike a certain staff member who went to fill his car up with petrol. This staff member was then pulled into the office about it and he thought he was being discriminated against, which he was, and my boss decided to stop anyone leaving to hospital!
2006-12-15 03:59:49 · update #1
Since your breaks are unpaid, they cannot dictate you to remain on site during that time. Seeing that you do not exceed the time, you are fine. My suggestion is to talk to your boss and express your concerns and come to a compromise. My suggestion is that one of the breaks be paid. If he wants you to be there, he has to offer something for you to make it worthwhile.
I'm an employer and most of my staff are single moms. Work day starts at 9am and ends at 3pm. So they are there to see their kids off to school and back for them to come home. They get paid for the full 8 hour day and that includes a half hour break for lunch and I bet they work harder for me for those 5.5 hours than others do for 8 hours. They are happier, have less stress and are extremely loyal. Hopefully your boss can understand to "take care of those who take care of you" mantra.
2006-12-15 03:57:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
No. If the breaks are not paid your employer cannot dictate where you spend them.
You need to be a Trades Union member to gain protection against exploitation like this - without that you're on your own and an unscrupulous employer can do pretty much what they want.
2006-12-15 03:55:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
I think in legal terms the Working Time Regs in the UK state that employees are entitled to breaks away from the workstation-that is far as the legal obligations go. I would suggest that as you aren't being paid it would be hard for the Employer to control what you do (as long as it doesnt impact on you after your break-ie you couldnt nip out and down 5 pints!).
Were you to be seeking to object though my advice would be to do it soon before the Employer can claim that your lack of objection equated to implied concurence.
2006-12-15 04:03:22 · answer #3 · answered by tomctownsend 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Legally no, because that is your free time, but you can be harrassed about where you take your break. To be on the safe side contact your hr dept and find out what the policies on breaks are. Was there an incident that happened that caused your Manager to say this?
2006-12-15 03:55:25 · answer #4 · answered by stringhead3 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
breaks are supposed to be paid...lunch is the only time not required to be paid....if you are not being paid for your breaks and then are dictated to stay on site then you are considered on call and this is also paid time...call your local labor board...if you are not being paid for a certain frame of time they cannot dictate to you what you can do or where you can go while you are on it....if they are going to control that time they must pay you
2006-12-15 04:11:17 · answer #5 · answered by cookiesmom 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you are not paid for your breaks they cannot keep you there. If you are paid for your breaks then they can dictate that you stay at work. You should take this up with BOLI (bureau of labor and industry).
2006-12-15 03:59:28 · answer #6 · answered by hogie0101 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
legally....after each two hour period of work you are entitled to a ten minute rest period.....PAID for as part of your normal hours.....after a four hour shift you are entitled to a 30 minute rest period....which does not neccessarily have to be taken on the premises.....this period is unpaid.....the ten minute rest periods, being paid, are subject to your employers discretion....they might lawfully insist that you remain on the premises
2006-12-15 03:59:00 · answer #7 · answered by whatthewhocaresanyway 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They can request that you stay on site but if they are not paying you for it you are alound to use it as free time to do what you need but you will need to iform someone that you where going off site and repot back to them when you came back.
2006-12-15 04:12:30 · answer #8 · answered by yorkshireman_andy_newton 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Tell your boss that if your going to be on standby that you want pay for being available. It is only fair and it will not cost him that much extra. It's only fair.
If your on the clock he can say where you have to be, otherwise he doesn't have much say.
2006-12-15 03:54:31 · answer #9 · answered by compgeekdotcom 2 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Not if it`s an unpaid break.
2006-12-15 03:56:47 · answer #10 · answered by The BudMiester 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋