Breaks
Brandy
6 Posts
Do you know of any rules or laws in South Dakota regarding the number of breaks lasting less than 15 minutes that are allowed? Or any laws regarding longer or more frequent breaks for office vs. production departments within a company?
If not, any suggestions on how to handle the complaints between the different departments?
If not, any suggestions on how to handle the complaints between the different departments?
Comments
South Dakota does not have a law that requires an employer to provide rest breaks and meal periods
Link: [url]http://www.state.sd.us/dol/dlm/wage-Q&A.htm[/url]
Are you asking how many breaks are "allowed" or "required"? According to the website, SD doesn't require employers to provide any rest breaks or meal periods.
Federal law doesn't require lunch or coffee breaks. Neither does South Dakota apparently.
So, whatever breaks you are giving your employees or allowing would be determined by your own policies.
Your post seems to imply that one department resents the amount of breaks another department is taking? Is that the case?
In our manufacturing plant, our production departments take two fifteen minute breaks. (On a side note, they will always drag out to seventeen, then nineteen or twenty minutes. We'll speak to some people and ask them to be the leaders - get up first - in dragging people back to work. Two weeks later, same thing. But I digress.) Our office staff does not take regularly scheduled breaks. I think they keep it "fair" by taking bits and pieces here and there - a personal phone call since they have a phone at their desk, a quick check of personal e-mail since they have a computer, etc.
If you'd like to tell us a little more about the squabbles, perhaps we can give a bit more direct advice.
Question-what is the policy for non-smokers in the sales department?
Our handbook states that each department will determine employee breaks and lunches. Due to the nature of their work, some employees must take breaks at specified times while other employees must be more flexible taking breaks and meals as the workflow allows.
With that policy in place, I can see no recourse to the situation. Or do you have any advice?
Different departments, slightly different rules. Its not that unusual.
You could state that break times do not exceed 30 minutes whether they are taken as 2 fifteen minute breaks or 3 tens. That would be "fair" but allow for some flexibility.
Some one of course will ask if he can take 15 two minute breaks.
Something to consider is changing the location of the "smoking area" to make it more difficult to take shorter breaks. We are going to a smoke free campus (we gave employees the first warning and it will probably be 6 months before we make the official switch) which means after the switch is the only place people can smoke on the premises is in their vehicles. This makes it a lot more difficult to take several shorter breaks rather than a 15 minute break. We are working with the SD Quit Line and our Health Insurance Company to encourage employees to quit. We are finding that just the introduction to these changes make employees must more aware of their several "smoke breaks".
Something completely different that the other advice but something to think about.