|
By Canadian law, they have to give a 30 minute break within 5 hours of work.
"Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted an unpaid break of at least 30 minutes during every period of five consecutive hours of work. If the employer requires the employee to be at their disposal during the break period, the employee must be paid for the break."
So if they are that strict and monitored that closely, the only thing they can do is to limit their intake of fluids.
It's a little different here in the US.
Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.
Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
Most companies give 30 minutes for lunch which is non-paid, but you HAVE to take lunch. I would get in big trouble if I didn't swipe out for 30 minutes every day! But I can also go to the bathroom whenever I have the need, they don't monitor that stuff.
Now if it's a union company, they usually have two 15 minute breaks as well.
|