I work in a hot coffee shop surrounded by coffee machines, ovens etc. and the environment is hot and dry.I are talking constantly to customers at the counter or drive thru which adds to throat dryness. I get two 15 min. breaks in a 8 or 9 hour shift. I am not permitted to drink anything on the floor but am permitted to go to the back for a drink. We have minimum staff and are busy all the time so if I need to go to the bathroom, I have to get a supervisor's attention and get her to find someone to relieve me for a bathroom break. Sometimes I wait really long for that break and sometimes it doesn't happen until my scheduled break. So to get someone to relieve me every 1/2 hour or so to go get a drink of water is not possible.
I get so dehydrated that I get salt deposits in the corners of my mouth and have become dizzy on occasion. Management says it is a head office rule and they can do nothing about it. Is it legal to deny a worker water for up to 5 hours? What can I do about this?
Also in addition to serving customers, we have other duties such as restocking coolers, sugars, cups etc for the next shift and have to take out all garbage. We never have time to do this and we are expected to stay after shift to complete these duties. I do not time out until I am completely finished and usually it adds 15 minutes to my shift. I never get paid for that. I saw a supervisor going into the computer one time and changing all the times back to 8 hours. Usually with 6 people per shift, that is a great saving to the employer and a rip off of the employee.
There are many other issues like this but I will start with these two and see what kind of response I get.
|