I recently finished orientation for a new job at a psych facility. During orientation, we were told we must take our lunch break (30 minutes UNpaid) in the break room of the unit that we are assigned to. My hand instantly went up to ask why, if we are on an unpaid lunch break, can we not leave. The HR person replied that staff was taking too long coming back from fast food places and also because anything can happen on the unit and they may need you to help.
I typically take my break AWAY from all the chaos, so I asked if I could at least spend the 30 minutes in my car. The HR person said NO. We are literally not allowed to physically leave the building , even though we are on an UNpaid break.
Is this legal? And how do I bring it up to my employer? Not to be an absolute pain, but my break is my business and I should be able to sit in my car and nap or do whatever while I'm off the clock. What are your thoughts ?
Each unit has one RN, one LPN, and one CNA. I'm an RN, but nobody else is allowed to leave the building either for breaks, regardless of title.
Specializes in M/S, Pulmonary, Travel, Homecare, Psych..
Worked at a hospital as a travel nurse that did the same thing. People complained, and the hospital very boldly stepped up monitoring for people leaving their unit.
So, people stopped leaving their units. And the end result was.................
The stairways STUNK of cigarettes. People had no way to get their once a shift puff in and found new, creative ways to do it.
Many nasty toned emails full of threats went out, yet the stairways still stunk of cigarettes. One person was suspended for a few days, no pay, and the stairways still smelled of cigarettes.
In the end, it became clear that if they wanted the smoking in the hallways to stop they either had to pay for that to be monitored too, or let people leave during their breaks.
To my surprise, they opted to stop monitoring if people left during their breaks.
Not okay. My understanding also is that you should never work off the clock because if something happens your employer can refuse to back you up with things like workman's comp. So in theory if you have to respond to a code you should clock back in before you go help (which is pretty hard to execute in a real emergency). Can anyone confirm or deny this statement? I used to work for a very profit oriented facility and to this day take that advice to heart.
I was always told that the 30 min break was automatically deducted unless you specified that you didn't get a lunch. We can leave the building but must clock in and out if we do.... that way the company is not responsible for you while your gone. If we stay... and sometimes, because things get crazy, we are asked to stay were we can hear our pages.... we do, because we want to help each other out. If I have to jump back into the fray before I've had a full 30mins, I put down no lunch and get paid for that time.
Been there, done that. Worked agency for a small for - profit psych facility. I was not allowed to leave because if an emergency arose, there was no other RN available to deal. A regular staff member was fired, because she refused to respond to an "emergency" during her onsite break.
Is it against labor laws?... most likely. These cheesy facilities do not care. They will just can you if you don't like it or report it.
Pick your battles, I stayed because I liked the $50 an hour.
If they say you can't leave, then don't. It is reasonable, in my opinion, to only be able to get two fifteens as opposed to one consecutive thirty. This is what I had to do yesterday.
We get 30 minutes unpaid they deduct it from our time automatically so we dont really clovk out. But we can eat in the cafeteria. Some units send techs to pick up lunch but they have to clock out. No union state.
joanna73, BSN, RN
4,767 Posts
That lasted maybe 3 weeks at my work place. Staff said, "Either my lunch is paid and I'll stay, or it's unpaid and I'll leave the building."
Staff leave the building for their unpaid meal. Management has no recourse. Check your labour laws.