35 replies to this topic

[The Man]

Taking me on, eh?

You gonna get yo ass beat boy.

[TheShadowNinja]

My suggestion, burn the place down.

Come on, Pookie, let's burn this motherfucker down!
Come on, Pookie! Let's burn it, Pookie!
Let's burn this motherfucker down!
Let's burn it down! Let's burn it!

[Creed 90]

Come on, Pookie, let's burn this motherfucker down!
Come on, Pookie! Let's burn it, Pookie!
Let's burn this motherfucker down!
Let's burn it down! Let's burn it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAft_dMWxBg

that was damn funny

[raw_genesis]

your doing it wrong, you dont 'ask' for a break, you simply say "I'm going on break now" and you go. I do that all the time... You can usually just walk off before they say anything.

but yeah, if they still stop you, just tell them in straight words that you will be taking your legally required brake time just as it states in your employment contract (you should probably check out your contract to make sure its stated some ware)

THEN if they still deny you your brake time, do what MQ said

[Lt ledhead]

Try it man. Don't have much to lose, other then a shit job at burger king. You could as work at sexist dairy queen, slaving in the kitchens, hell you might get some money! Go for it!

[way2lazy2care]

MQ pointed out probably the most important thing. Legal Aid.

For those of you not in the know, the legal aid society (not sure what it is in Canada? hopefully u have one...) is pretty much a group that gives legal advice and representation to people who aren't able to represent themselves by some means (usually monetary). Look into it. Also, if there is a union (doubtful for fast food?) they will usually give free legal services to any members of the union.

Look into canadian labor laws more. looking at it breifly, you should get at least 30 minutes every 5 hours. Also, for smoking breaks, that's discrimination.

Regardless of whether or not breaks should be given, the fact that they are giving some people breaks because they are different than other people, while at the same time denying the other people breaks, is quite discriminatory. You would have a definite case in America on both accounts. I'd say though, that if you did bring up the case, it would more likely end in a settlement and any of your superiors with knowledge of the action being fired rather than a winning lawsuit.

I'll update on my thoughts more after Adobe finishes installing so I can read PDFS, because my school is fucking stupid and made Acrobat Reader a licensed applications, which means I have to log onto their keyserver (which disconnects me from the internet) to open it. Also, it freezes my computer for 5 minutes while it tries to open Acrobat if I don't have the keyserver open. Big thanks to the government of NS too for not telling me I was clicking to open a PDF instead of html, fuckers.

[MCClammer]

When I was working at a place where they gave smokers extra breaks, I bought a cheap corn cob pipe, some cheap tobacco and puffed but didn't inhale.. got me an extra hour.. damn those nic fits.

[Snubs]

Talk to your manager about it. Explain your view in detail. If they care about being good management, they'll compromize with you.

When I made management in my workplace, I talked with the owner about the smoke breaks everyone else got. (I don't smoke, so I never got those breaks). She made the rule that you can only have one smoke break during your shift. It's not fair for smokers to get to go outside for a break once an hour, then we're bustin our asses inside for 4 hours straight. (that is, if ya care about good service to your customers).

Good luck dude, tell us what happens. I'm curious about the outcome.

[Creed 90]

your doing it wrong, you dont 'ask' for a break, you simply say "I'm going on break now" and you go. I do that all the time... You can usually just walk off before they say anything.

but yeah, if they still stop you, just tell them in straight words that you will be taking your legally required brake time just as it states in your employment contract (you should probably check out your contract to make sure its stated some ware)

THEN if they still deny you your brake time, do what Shadowstar said

fix't.

[Tubby]

Print off the information from the Nova Scotia labor regulations and a few other official sources and post them on the bulletin board / wherever roster is posted in your workplace.

Then, when it comes time for you to take your break - just be subtle "Ok boss, back in 30" "uh...excuse me? 15?" "Uhm...no, according to the Nova Scotia labor regulations I have 30 minutes. Anything else is illegal and a breach of OH&S (Occupational Health & Safety - or equal in your country) - by denying you of your 30 minutes there and then, you're most likely to have A) several witnesses to the matter for approaching a union rep or the Workcover people (once again, may not be called that in Yank-land) in which you have a very powerful fucking case in regards to a breach in duty of care by your employer.

Secondly, in regards to the smoking scenario. You are entitled to JUST AS MANY smoke breaks as the smoking counterparts of your store. This will either go one of two ways:

A) You'll either be granted the same thing due to discrimination towards yourself (Excluding you from these allocated time breaks because you do not smoke)
or
They'll completely ban smoke breaks and fall back under the standard 30 minute break for every shift longer then 5.5hrs.

Do everything by the book and in plain sight so when they cock up next - and you're no ordinary bear. You can properly roger them from behind taking their jobs before you quit if you're sick of the business.

All that comes to some amazing crash of defeat (fuck-know's how tho) - Simply explain to your manager that s/he has extremely poor managerial skills and you've decided to take your skills and ambition elsewhere. But, not before making a call to the OH&S officer to report the safety breaches within this particular store. Either that, or climb the chain of command and contact your head office.
Also, rallying up with fellow workmates over this and perhaps a petition to stick in their pooper.

You're getting dogged worse then a Go-Lo employee dude, and they've got one of the shittiest sticks dealt to them in the employment industry.
I'd certainly fucking take a step up - you're not fighting for something unachievable elsewhere - you're fighting for what you're fucking owed in ANY workplace scenario.

[Tree_]

Personally i'd turkey slap them bitches... Then do what Tubby said,

[TubularLuggage]

You can try, worst case scenario is you lose your job but if they fired you for even asking about it then you would have a real nice case, haha. Or you could just take up smoking, even though a pack of cigarettes will probably negate like 2 or more hours of your jobs pay (I heard cigs in Canada are like over 10$ a pack?).

I'm in the the US and I've never gotten more than 20 minutes of break time for an 8+ hour shift. I usually never use my breaks anyway.

Also, here is the important part. The part about the 30 minute required break for employees working at least 5 hours...I assume you get a lunch break? If so, that lunch break counts as the 30 minutes because even if you clock out, it isn't actually required to pay you while you are on said break. If they don't give you a lunch break and they don't let you eat while on the job then you have a good case.

We don't get lunch breaks. Right now it's just the one ten minute break for shifts under 15 hours.

For the record, I'm not really considering suing them, at least as long as they're not huge assholes about it when I bring it up with them.

When I was working at a place where they gave smokers extra breaks, I bought a cheap corn cob pipe, some cheap tobacco and puffed but didn't inhale.. got me an extra hour.. damn those nic fits.

That's not a bad idea.

Regardless of what I do, the worst that can happen is I lose my shitty job at BK that I wouldn't have gotten a reference from anyway. I'll bring it up with the manager when I go in today, and I'll let you all know how what happens.

[Plasmic Fury]

Just tell them its a problem and they might listen to you. you never know, let us know how it goes.

[juX]

Simple, talk to your manager in some fashion about what's going on and what the law states print it out if you have to, if that won't work, try going higher than him if that is possible, if that doesn't work then you have to take more action, basically if bk has any kind of hr call them if a supervisor or manager can't help you out or refuses to help you out, if HR won't do anything about it your lawyer will, and I wouldn't worry about legal fees at that point because is bk breaks labor laws and nobody attempts to help you out or you created a dispute and they failed to help you, then your legal fees will be paid for assuming you win the case.

But again first things first try to talk to proper management first so that way you can move up the ladder if all else fails.

[Yozki]

Taking me on, eh?

You gonna get yo ass beat boy.

Hahahahaha

IMO you should try reasoning with your boss, I'd just try to get along with him and if that proves to be impossible just quit, working on a tense environment can be pretty exhausting/ depressing

[anatomy187]

We don't get lunch breaks. Right now it's just the one ten minute break for shifts under 15 hours.

Well if you don't get lunch breaks then you definitely have a case, ask them wtf they are trying to pull and if they give you shit, do what an American would do and sue the balls off of them. You know BK will settle just to keep things quiet, don't miss out on a pile of money when you can get it from corporate fuckers.