I totally understand where you are coming from because we are having the same problems here. Will he be fired? Definitely not because he is working for free for an hour which is what UPS wants and its the very reason management forces you to record an hour lunch. They are betting a certain % of drivers will put it in and not take it.
However, here they will make exceptions and let you code 5 if you ask in advance and don't abuse it. For instance, if you want to see your kids soccer game they might let you skip lunch on a limited basis. If the center manager didn't make exceptions like this on a limited basis the shop steward is going to instruct the entire center they need to shut it down between the 4th and 5th hour per the contract.
I understand people won't like this, but if everyone did it they would have to add routes and it would cause major problems for the dispatch. Its for this reason I think UPS should not be firm on the lunch issue because it will come back to bite them in a very bad way. Just think of 100% business routes. If you start at 835 lunch must be started between 1235 and 1335. You can't deliver between 1200 and 1300 because its other people's lunch and the packages will show as missed if they are closed. So if pick-ups start at 1430-1500, it doesn't leave a lot of time after your airs to deliver the route.
Why would UPS make this bed to sleep in? In this example, the hour lunch taken between the 4th and 5th greatly benefits the driver. Its the 180 stop residential route that the hour lunch hurts the driver in my opinion. Why sit out there for an extra hour when you don't have any pick-up comitments? Its this driver who is going to get tired of sitting there for an hour doing nothing day after day, week after week. Its this driver that will bend and give his lunch time to UPS.
At least thats how I see it.
