Coffee Breaks - Paid Or Unpaid ?

[helipinch]

I don't know guys, i do lots in the field and lots in the hanger.

In the feild the job dictates the breaks, sometimes none, WHATEVER.

In the hanger.... some shops are "letter of the law" 15 min at 10:00 and 15 min at 3:00 (payed), some shops you just take it as it comes.

I smoke (BAD MAN) so when i work in the hanger i will work all day with no "break" BUT i slip out for a cigerate every now and then and i'm good with that.

I have never heard from an employer that i need to stop and start at a certen time, i think if i did i would have to take a serious look at who i was working for. But that is just me!

I am a free spirit!

[helimat]

Coffee and Meal Breaks

 

Most jurisdictions in Canada (British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) provide that an employee is entitled to a meal break of at least one-half hour after each period of five consecutive hours of work. Similar provisions in Alberta allow eligible employees to take at least a one-half hour break during each shift in excess of five hours. Employees in Yukon are entitled to one half-hour break after five consecutive hours of work if they work ten hours or less on that day, or after six consecutive hours on a day where they work more than ten hours. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador awards to employees a meal break of one hour after five consecu­tive hours of work. Many jurisdictions provide that the meal break can be suspended during an emergency or unforeseeable event, and that employees may, in certain circums­tances, shorten or forego the meal break. In Ontario, an employee may agree to split a break in two periods totalling 30 minutes. Where necessary for medical reasons, employees in Saskatchewan are entitled to take a meal break at another time.

 

Employers are not normally required to pay employees for time spent on a meal break. However, in some jurisdictions, employees who are required to remain at their work station or to be available for work during a meal break must be paid for that period as if work was being performed.

 

Moreover, no legislation obliges an employer to provide coffee breaks to employees. However, if a coffee break is provided in Ontario, Quebec or Saskatchewan, employers must consider it as time worked.

 

From HRDC Site

 

See also: Matrix

 

 

It is worth noting that most of aviation in Canada falls under the Federal Labour Code, which does not call for any paid breaks. This would apply to people working for operators, so those working for MRO's would be under their Provincial Labour Code.

That being said, the boss should give breaks for company moral. Otherwise people end up going postal!