I have a slight issue at work.
a little background: I have hourly employees. When they take lunch, they supposed to clock out before leaving the office to go buy lunch. One of the employees argued that she is supposed to only clock out after getting her lunch, ie her buying lunch is part of her work hour and that she's supposed to be paid for this. I challenged her to provide proof but she simply said "that's what she did at her last job and that's what a lot of her friends do". I have not heard of this. I simply said "this is my office, my rules. Unless state of federal law states otherwise, clock out before buying lunch".
Does anyone here work on hourly wage? Do you leave the office, buy lunch, then clock out when you're ready to sit down and eat?
how do I know she doesn't take time to eat lunch outside the office then decided to take another 5 minutes to for her lunch break in the office then clock back in?

I have pretty much decided what to do. However, I'm looking for a different viewpoint. Thanks.

 

I know nothing about the laws involved, and it would probably vary by state... however...

..

No place that I know of would operate like she's describing. That whole idea is idiotic. If she wants an entire hour to eat her lunch, tell her to make something before she comes in and keep it in the fridge (assuming you have one.)

 

If she doesn't like it, can her.

 

She's an idiot, fire her. Move along.

 

Leaving her chair/desk/workplace for lunch is the moment she is off the clock. At that time, she punches the timeclock and goes and does whatever she "wants to do." When she returns to begin work is when she punches the timeclock back in. That is the accepted and court-accepted way of timing out and in for lunch. You can change that if you want to what she expects. But I would not. Next thing that will occur is that some of your employees will pick up breakfast on the way to work, clock in and then eat it--on your time. I would suggest you put out a memo and have an employee meeting to clear the air. But stick to your guns.
FYI, I have over 35 years leadership and managerial experience and graduate education in human resources.

 

Agree with the others - you're off the clock as soon as you make a step towards getting/eating your lunch.

 

thanks to everyone for the replies. I was just curious if any place allows employees to get lunch on company's time but doesn't seem like it.
thanks again.

 

You should ask her if she wants to include her commute in her 'working time', too.
The woman is crazy and has no idea how the real world works. Eating/preparing/buying your lunch is something you do on your own time, not the company's (unless you're salaried, like me ).

 

She's an idiot, she knows exactly how it's done and is just pulling your chain to see what she can get away with.

She's lucky she has an hour of lunch, I used to really struggle to go get a lunch and eat it within 30 minutes in my old retail job.

 

If the employee is going to get lunch for all the employees (and if the employees take turns going to get lunch for the group), then I wouldn't have a problem with her 'clocking out' for lunch when she gets back.

Ask her this--if she has a doctors appointment at 3pm, does she clock out at 3pm or when she leaves your office?