Eating at desk

BenefitsAdmin

Our company has had several problems with employees eating at their desk. Although we don't mind finger-type foods, employees have continued to eat full meals at their desks. We are in the process of putting together a policy for eating at your desk. I was hoping that I am not the only one experiencing this situation and would love to have input in this policy or a copy of a policy you may be currently using. You can email me at [email]dadams@periop.com[/email]. Thank you for any ideas/suggestions you may have.

smaces_twin

I eat lunch at my desk almost every day. What's the problem?

safety

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-21-04 AT 11:12AM (CST)[/font][br][br]This may or may not help you but I am pasting it for your review.

29 CFR 785.19 - Meal.


Section Number: 785.19
Section Name: Meal.

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(a) Bona fide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods are not worktime.
Bona
fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks. These
are rest periods. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for
the purposes of eating regular meals. Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is
long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long
enough under special conditions. The employee is not relieved if he is
required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while
eating. For example, an office employee who is required to eat at his
desk or a factory worker who is required to be at his machine is working
while eating. (Culkin v. Glenn L. Martin, Nebraska Co., 97 F. Supp. 661
(D. Neb. 1951), aff'd 197 F. 2d 981 (C.A. 8, 1952), cert. denied 344
U.S. 888 (1952); Thompson v. Stock & Sons, Inc., 93 F. Supp. 213 (E.D.
Mich 1950), aff'd 194 F. 2d 493 (C.A. 6, 1952); Biggs v. Joshua Hendy
Corp., 183 F. 2d 515 (C. A. 9, 1950), 187 F. 2d 447 (C.A. 9, 1951);
Walling v. Dunbar Transfer & Storage Co., 3 W.H. Cases 284; 7 Labor
Cases para. 61.565 (W.D. Tenn. 1943); Lofton v. Seneca Coal and Coke
Co., 2 W.H. Cases 669; 6 Labor Cases para. 61,271 (N.D. Okla. 1942);
aff'd 136 F. 2d 359 (C.A. 10, 1943); cert. denied 320 U.S. 772 (1943);
Mitchell v. Tampa Cigar Co., 36 Labor Cases para. 65, 198, 14 W.H. Cases
38 (S.D. Fla. 1959); Douglass v. Hurwitz Co., 145 F. Supp. 29, 13 W.H.
Cases (E.D. Pa. 1956))
(b) Where no permission to leave premises. 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.

Don D

I took your post to indicate more of a problem with the issue of people gobbling food in view of others, rather than the issue of whether or not they were to be paid during this time. If it is the former, I think saying simply this might be satisfactory: "Employees are not allowed to eat meals at their work stations. The employee break area is available for meals."

It is quite typical for our exempts to either microwave a lunch or run out for a hamburger that they eat at their desks while working. But, we do not have a stream of the public coming through here, so it makes a difference in that regard. But, you don't need a good reason or one at all to have such a policy, unless you're applying it to non-exempts and it involves wages.

bely

We prohibit eating "meal" type foods at a personal work area (desk) for many reasons - it smells, it's unprofessional, it's unsanitary, it can damage company equipment - and the earlier post really says it all .. if employees do not physically leave the work area you COULD be required to pay them and/or pay overtime .. recent health alerts point out strongly that there are more bacteria at office desks than on toilet seats - eating food at one's desk can spread disease, encourage insects - a host of issues.

Don D

You left out the dreaded 'accompanying flatulence' and the notorious 'mustard on the tie'.

smaces_twin

I can understand the smell issue. I do not understand the other issues if someone is careful and clean. I think it is more of a control issue than anything. A policy about eating at your desk makes me chuckle.

janetc

We've also been struggling with this issue and we were concerned for several reasons. The first, the employee might come back and state they had been "working" and try to get overtime and second, the professionalism aspect.
What we decided was that all employees who are on the telephone with customers or interact with the public should not be eating at their desk as it is not professional. Most have agreed and are willing to work with us. We did not approach it on a personal level, but on a professional level.
We've requested other employees to be considerate of others and use the lunch room for meals as much as possible. We too, have exempt employees who "work through lunch", but it really does help to get up and out even for 15-20 minutes during the day and we've asked the exempt employees to help set the example.
However, I really like the idea of tackling it from the "germ" aspect . . . wonder it that would motivate them to eat elsewhere since I'm always getting complaints about how the bathrooms aren't clean enough . . . : )