State of Iowa - required lunch time breaks
Laureen
5 Posts
Help,
I've been trying to get my staff to take lunch breaks and they, for the most part, raise a stink and don't want to take them, say they are too busy to take them. I tell them they need a break from the work. They'll take a couple of phone calls when they're suppose to be at lunch and say they were WORKING.
From the books I've looked in, I don't see a law in Iowa that MANDATES one HAS to take a lunch break. Perhaps it's only suggested that a 30 min. break is taken.
Also, I did not find where we are required to offer them breaks in the morning or afternoon.
For those of you living in Iowa, what's the law and what have you been doing. I don't want us to get fined down the road for the employees stubbornness and me not enforcing it. We are a doctor's office, but there is ALWAYS work to do, so lunch period or not, that won't change.
HELP ME or lead me to some internet sites to find the answers. Dr. wants me to check this out asap and see if we're not in compliance. Of course the medical staff does not like the idea of having to take a lunch AT ALL!!!
Let me hear from you ASAP!
Thanks.
I've been trying to get my staff to take lunch breaks and they, for the most part, raise a stink and don't want to take them, say they are too busy to take them. I tell them they need a break from the work. They'll take a couple of phone calls when they're suppose to be at lunch and say they were WORKING.
From the books I've looked in, I don't see a law in Iowa that MANDATES one HAS to take a lunch break. Perhaps it's only suggested that a 30 min. break is taken.
Also, I did not find where we are required to offer them breaks in the morning or afternoon.
For those of you living in Iowa, what's the law and what have you been doing. I don't want us to get fined down the road for the employees stubbornness and me not enforcing it. We are a doctor's office, but there is ALWAYS work to do, so lunch period or not, that won't change.
HELP ME or lead me to some internet sites to find the answers. Dr. wants me to check this out asap and see if we're not in compliance. Of course the medical staff does not like the idea of having to take a lunch AT ALL!!!
Let me hear from you ASAP!
Thanks.
Comments
The rule is, if they say they're working, they're not on a duty-free lunch break, so you have to pay them for that time. If you want them to By God take a lunch break, you have to make it a disciplinary issue. If they're on the clock, you check to make sure they've clocked out for 30 minutes for lunch, and if they don't, you pay them but make them subject to discipline.
Or, short of that, use some of these ideas, courtesy of your Iowa Employment Law Letter:
* Make sure the employees' duties are covered during their lunch period.
* Provide a break room for employee lunches.
* Monitor lunch periods to ensure that employees are not working and munching.
* Invoke a policy which requires that lunches remain duty free and prohibits
food at employees' work stations.
Brad Forrister
Director of Publishing
M. Lee Smith Publishers