Entitled Boss Gets Slammed Online For Expecting Employees To Not Leave The Building During Lunch Hours
“Employment” is a rewarding process with, at times, not-so-rewarding values; most of us, at least once in our lifetime, have been recruited to a company with standoffish vibes that ended up making our life a living hell.
Whether it was a part-time job during your high school period, where your so-called boss berated you for every minor inconvenience, or a “proper” position that you’ve taken on after your hardworking years in college where you have to co-exist with your micromanaging manager – finding a place with a positive culture could seem like an impossible game.
And although nowadays, folks are becoming more and more vocal about toxic work atmospheres, some organizations still maintain unethical environments and demand that workers stay in the building during their unpaid lunch breaks.
More info: Reddit
Sometimes your job’s management truly baffles you with their orders
Image credits: Alexandra Zakharova (not the actual image)
“My supervisor at Carl’s Jr. is telling everyone that we can’t leave the building during our 30-minute lunch break” – this online user turned to the r/antiwork subreddit to share how the employees of this fast-food restaurant are unable to leave the building during their lunch break due to district manager’s order.
Fast-food restaurant employee reveals how new district manager expects staff to stay on the building’s premises during unpaid lunch breaks
Image credits: u/alexmarshallvanover
The author began his post by revealing that right before he was about to leave work, his supervisor informed everyone of a new rule that was introduced by the company’s district manager. Turns out, the higher-up doesn’t want anyone leaving the building while on their lunch break.
Image credits: Edward Kimmel (not the actual image)
The request is very outlandish; no one in their right mind would ever propose a rule that’d restrict their staff members from their basic rights. But again, that’s the infamous motto of all toxic workplaces.
Let’s imagine that, for some odd reason, management really expects employees to stay on the premises during their breaks, the least they could do is offer an explanation and perhaps an official copy of the policy. Moreover, since they’re basically forcing you to stay onsite – if they’re not willing to pay for the inconvenience that it is, they can’t dictate what you do during your out-of-work time.
Image credits: u/alexmarshallvanover
Naturally, the man was shocked to hear such a statement. He shared that he looked at his supervisor hoping that it was some kind of a joke, although she quickly assured everyone that she was serious and that it was indeed a new rule.
The OP then replied, saying, “I guess I’m smoking in here now.” He also mentioned that it was probably the right time to buy a pack of cigarettes even though he only uses the electronic ones. Lastly, the employee finished his post by saying that Carl’s Jr. “blows” but that at least all of his colleagues are great people.
Image credits: Brett L. (not the actual image)
It’s crucial to remember that you’re not obligated to obey your company’s approaches.
The most important “survival” tactic is to get out as soon as you can – however, if you’re not in a place where you can drop everything and leave, you must be aware of your legal rights.
What do you think about the rule? Have you ever experienced similar issues at your job?
Fellow Redditors shared their thoughts concerning the absurd request
My daughters boss told her that females and males are not allowed to go out to lunch or have lunch on the property together. That even though it is just a friendly luncheon it doesnt look appropriate. My daughter was outside talking to a male coworker and i guess her supervisors husband was their and could see out the window where they were standing. She told her that it looked bad on her part to be out their with another man in front of her husband because he knows she is in a relationship. I told my daughter that she needs to ask for these things in writing or to have them pointed out in the employee handbook. I love how companies try to verbally tell you something they will not put in writing because they know they cannot force it upon you by law. I let her know your company cannot require anything of you while you are off the clock.
This sounds like them trying to pass their personal opinions onto your daughter when they need to mind the damn business! They don't know the nature of their conversation and just because " she in a relationship" doesn't give them the right to tell her who to speak to nor does it mean she can't speak to ppl of the other sex!
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Obviously this is so that if it gets busy they can find you and cancel your break.
Exactly. Happened when I first started my old job. Was new to retail and literally everybody that was on shift when I clocked in one day was in the break room celebrating a co-worker's bday. Manager, assist managers, everyone. Guess who had to work register? Guess who was still learning the register? Every time I had to call for bill check I had to run to the break room and have one of my coworkers check it, because manager and assist managers were busy drinking on the job. That coworker was so patient with me, though, and by the end of my shift I basically finished learning the AOL-esque register.
Load More Replies...
Federal law says they can "It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period." (Quoted directly from 29 cfr 785.19 section b)
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It's always the district managers and other upper level management who don't actually work the floor jobs who come up with this kind of BS. Sometimes pushback is needed to say, "Um, no, that is not happening, but we can ask the media what they think." Guarantee in most scenarios they will drop it cause they know it's borderline criminal.
The corporate environment is whole-heartedly driven by what's best for shareholders (i.e. profits) which is why they contiune to squeeze more out of employees. The time and effort has to come from somewhere so families/personal life gets sacrificed, leading to depression, anxiety, stress and a litnely of other ailements that in turn overburdens the heathcare industry. It also contributes to the wealth gap that has grown exponentially in the past two decades. As an employer I say this...I support the great resignation and while I do not personally support unions due to personal experiences, I can understand the need to organize. If we don't overcorrect the behavior now, we're going to end up in a really bad place.
Unions only came about out of a need to stop employees being exploited. In this case they should step in a remind the boss that employees have no obligation to stay when not being paid
Load More Replies...
I worked at a hospital where we worked 12 hour shifts and they expected us to stay on campus for lunch. It was a night shift and they didn't feed us so I thought that was completely ridiculous. Plus, sometimes you needed a power nap but they told us we could not sleep on our breaks. No the breaks were not paid. I slept and left on my breaks whenever I needed to. F their nonsense! My husband smokes and he worked at a place where they did not allow people to leave for break or smoke. He tried it but ended up quitting the job. They would work him so hard and then expect him to never have a break. He worked at many restaurants and never heard of a restaurant not allowing their workers to take smoke breaks. Some places just suck.
When I was younger I took a job at a trophy/sign/award shop as a graphic artist. Lunch was 1 hour at noon and unpaid. This we 1992 so no internet or cell phones in every pocket. To pass time after eating I sat at my workstation and did whatever it was a 22 year old did in 1992 when there was nothing else to do. I don't recall what I did, but I wasn't working...because I wasn't getting paid. The owner/boss came over to me and told me that I should be working on my job list (this means working on items going to paying customers). I asked if he wanted my to clock back in and he was very explicit he'd not be paying any overtime. I asked them if clocking out early for the day was what he meant and he said no. I left that place In less than a week. For my old job back and with a raise. ...just 1 of several the horror stories of that business's...
It's called restriction of movement. They aren't paying you, they can't require anything from you.
I hate to use words like kidnapping, slavery, human trafficking, but they all come to mind when reading this article...
You should of followed up with, great so were getting paid for our lunch breaks from now on!
If you have a meal break that is unpaid - you are not on the clock, they have no legal ability to prevent you from leaving the building. If your meal break is on the clock, you are on-duty, so leaving the building would be abandoning your post/job. -- That being said, not every FF store has a break room, which would mean that the staff on break might have to do so in the dining room, taking away space for paying custom.
I would of asked for the official copy of the policy with my signature on the document acknowledging this policy. If you can't produce the document, you legally can't tell me to say onsite and THINK that you will get away with it. I WILL SHUT YOUR S**T DOWN!! THAT LOCATION IS NO LONGER IN BUSINESS!! CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT B**CHES!
I would like to know why they're doing this in the first place. It makes no sense and it sounds illegal if they aren't paying you.
It is legal if they pay your lunch time. Other than that they can't expect you to stay inside their walls. Unpaid break is yours and you do wathever you want with your time
It's in the employment info poster that is supposed to be easily viewable. If you can't leave the premises on your break, the employer MUST pay you for that time.
I've had a lot of jobs where you were not allowed to leave the premise during your lunch hour.
You probably were, you just didn't know your rights. Unless you were paid for your lunchtime or you're in some type of job where it's written into your contract, it's not usually an enforceable rule
Load More Replies... To those saying this is illegal, the federal law does not back up your claim.(A state may or may not have greater protections but i can at least say that Arizona is not one such state.) The law to look at is "29 cfr 785.19" particularly of note is section b which plainly states that "It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period."
My guess is they prevented the employees from leaving on their lunch break because maybe they have a lot of employees coming back late from lunch, so to prevent that, they told them to just eat on site and don't leave. They can't do that. It's literally against the law and it's RIDICULOUS.
Most teachers, esp. elem are not permitted to leave on break on some must supervise students too, others are forced to have working lunches for meetings. Where's the outrage there?
That's what the teacher's union is for. Suggest they use it since they're paying for it.
Load More Replies...
The only jobs Ive ever had that could legally require us to stay through our meals were camps - and that was because we had to eat with the kids to make sure they ate and were safe. Resident camps fed us as well (and meals were served family style so we had what the kids did which was generally pretty good). And now as an admin at a day camp, we can bring whatever we want to eat as long as we sit with our kids (the admin rotates between groups so they all get to see/talk to us). Breaks are at other points in the day but most use them to swim or "play" in unused (at the time) spaces - doing our own A&C or using the gym, etc. If we wanted to we could leave but too generally didnt/dont because the lake is too much fun.
My daughters boss told her that females and males are not allowed to go out to lunch or have lunch on the property together. That even though it is just a friendly luncheon it doesnt look appropriate. My daughter was outside talking to a male coworker and i guess her supervisors husband was their and could see out the window where they were standing. She told her that it looked bad on her part to be out their with another man in front of her husband because he knows she is in a relationship. I told my daughter that she needs to ask for these things in writing or to have them pointed out in the employee handbook. I love how companies try to verbally tell you something they will not put in writing because they know they cannot force it upon you by law. I let her know your company cannot require anything of you while you are off the clock.
This sounds like them trying to pass their personal opinions onto your daughter when they need to mind the damn business! They don't know the nature of their conversation and just because " she in a relationship" doesn't give them the right to tell her who to speak to nor does it mean she can't speak to ppl of the other sex!
Load More Replies... Obviously this is so that if it gets busy they can find you and cancel your break.
Exactly. Happened when I first started my old job. Was new to retail and literally everybody that was on shift when I clocked in one day was in the break room celebrating a co-worker's bday. Manager, assist managers, everyone. Guess who had to work register? Guess who was still learning the register? Every time I had to call for bill check I had to run to the break room and have one of my coworkers check it, because manager and assist managers were busy drinking on the job. That coworker was so patient with me, though, and by the end of my shift I basically finished learning the AOL-esque register.
Load More Replies... Federal law says they can "It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period." (Quoted directly from 29 cfr 785.19 section b)
Load More Replies... It's always the district managers and other upper level management who don't actually work the floor jobs who come up with this kind of BS. Sometimes pushback is needed to say, "Um, no, that is not happening, but we can ask the media what they think." Guarantee in most scenarios they will drop it cause they know it's borderline criminal.
The corporate environment is whole-heartedly driven by what's best for shareholders (i.e. profits) which is why they contiune to squeeze more out of employees. The time and effort has to come from somewhere so families/personal life gets sacrificed, leading to depression, anxiety, stress and a litnely of other ailements that in turn overburdens the heathcare industry. It also contributes to the wealth gap that has grown exponentially in the past two decades. As an employer I say this...I support the great resignation and while I do not personally support unions due to personal experiences, I can understand the need to organize. If we don't overcorrect the behavior now, we're going to end up in a really bad place.
Unions only came about out of a need to stop employees being exploited. In this case they should step in a remind the boss that employees have no obligation to stay when not being paid
Load More Replies... I worked at a hospital where we worked 12 hour shifts and they expected us to stay on campus for lunch. It was a night shift and they didn't feed us so I thought that was completely ridiculous. Plus, sometimes you needed a power nap but they told us we could not sleep on our breaks. No the breaks were not paid. I slept and left on my breaks whenever I needed to. F their nonsense! My husband smokes and he worked at a place where they did not allow people to leave for break or smoke. He tried it but ended up quitting the job. They would work him so hard and then expect him to never have a break. He worked at many restaurants and never heard of a restaurant not allowing their workers to take smoke breaks. Some places just suck.
When I was younger I took a job at a trophy/sign/award shop as a graphic artist. Lunch was 1 hour at noon and unpaid. This we 1992 so no internet or cell phones in every pocket. To pass time after eating I sat at my workstation and did whatever it was a 22 year old did in 1992 when there was nothing else to do. I don't recall what I did, but I wasn't working...because I wasn't getting paid. The owner/boss came over to me and told me that I should be working on my job list (this means working on items going to paying customers). I asked if he wanted my to clock back in and he was very explicit he'd not be paying any overtime. I asked them if clocking out early for the day was what he meant and he said no. I left that place In less than a week. For my old job back and with a raise. ...just 1 of several the horror stories of that business's...
It's called restriction of movement. They aren't paying you, they can't require anything from you.
I hate to use words like kidnapping, slavery, human trafficking, but they all come to mind when reading this article...
You should of followed up with, great so were getting paid for our lunch breaks from now on!
If you have a meal break that is unpaid - you are not on the clock, they have no legal ability to prevent you from leaving the building. If your meal break is on the clock, you are on-duty, so leaving the building would be abandoning your post/job. -- That being said, not every FF store has a break room, which would mean that the staff on break might have to do so in the dining room, taking away space for paying custom.
I would of asked for the official copy of the policy with my signature on the document acknowledging this policy. If you can't produce the document, you legally can't tell me to say onsite and THINK that you will get away with it. I WILL SHUT YOUR S**T DOWN!! THAT LOCATION IS NO LONGER IN BUSINESS!! CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT B**CHES!
I would like to know why they're doing this in the first place. It makes no sense and it sounds illegal if they aren't paying you.
It is legal if they pay your lunch time. Other than that they can't expect you to stay inside their walls. Unpaid break is yours and you do wathever you want with your time
It's in the employment info poster that is supposed to be easily viewable. If you can't leave the premises on your break, the employer MUST pay you for that time.
I've had a lot of jobs where you were not allowed to leave the premise during your lunch hour.
You probably were, you just didn't know your rights. Unless you were paid for your lunchtime or you're in some type of job where it's written into your contract, it's not usually an enforceable rule
Load More Replies... To those saying this is illegal, the federal law does not back up your claim.(A state may or may not have greater protections but i can at least say that Arizona is not one such state.) The law to look at is "29 cfr 785.19" particularly of note is section b which plainly states that "It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period."
My guess is they prevented the employees from leaving on their lunch break because maybe they have a lot of employees coming back late from lunch, so to prevent that, they told them to just eat on site and don't leave. They can't do that. It's literally against the law and it's RIDICULOUS.
Most teachers, esp. elem are not permitted to leave on break on some must supervise students too, others are forced to have working lunches for meetings. Where's the outrage there?
That's what the teacher's union is for. Suggest they use it since they're paying for it.
Load More Replies... The only jobs Ive ever had that could legally require us to stay through our meals were camps - and that was because we had to eat with the kids to make sure they ate and were safe. Resident camps fed us as well (and meals were served family style so we had what the kids did which was generally pretty good). And now as an admin at a day camp, we can bring whatever we want to eat as long as we sit with our kids (the admin rotates between groups so they all get to see/talk to us). Breaks are at other points in the day but most use them to swim or "play" in unused (at the time) spaces - doing our own A&C or using the gym, etc. If we wanted to we could leave but too generally didnt/dont because the lake is too much fun.
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