The Lunch BS

[browniehound]

We have shop stewards who check delivery records of drivers who get in early to see if they have lunch recorded while they were delivering. So we can't just lets say put 12 to 1 and just come in when we're done. I think one got a warning letter for not recording a full hour lunch to get to a kids function.We do have to take and record a full hour even on 8 hour requests.

Understood. However, when I need to get out early and don't get an approved code 05 I record an hour lunch and get paid for it. I don't record it in the middle of the day so it shows me delivering stops during lunch. I simply run the route, do my turn and and then record the lunch for the minute I punch out to an hour later. This way, I'm not falsifying delivery records.

When you do it this way, your time card kicks out because your lunch is recorded after your punch out time. The OMS who does the time cards must now go in and move your punch-out time to an hour later (the right thing to do by the way) and you get paid for the hour.

I only do this when I NEED to get out. I ask 3 times a year and get denied 3 times a year. I don't abuse this method and only do it when ABSOLUTELY necessary. I don't like putting the OMS in the predicament of altering time cards, but I'm owed the hour. It really gets to me that they just can't pay us for the hour worked? They have all the technology to bust a driver who is cheating them, so why not let us run it and go home? Its not like we have 40 hour/week jobs. When we work 8, its really 9 which is fine, but when we work 9 or 10 turning it into 10 or eleven, the extra hour hurts.

It comes down to two things. The hour lunch comes in handy to UPS for straight business routes. It allows an hour of "buffer" time to plan the route between deliveries and pick-ups and also allows them the luxuary of delaying OT by an hour so they are not paying OT until 1730 instead of 1630 when the driver has pick-ups until 1830.

The second thing is they want drivers to run their lunch. Why make a strictly house-call run with zero pick-ups take a lunch? I can think of only 1 reason and that is they know some (or most) days some drivers will burn it and skip lunch to get in early. Thus, UPS gains an hour of free labor for the day. Multiply that by the thousands of drivers who do it every day and we are talking serious money here!

They talk about idle time and .4 gallons (at$2.70/gallon) wasted for every hour of idling. How $44/hour for every driver who skips his lunch? The idle time now becomes insignificant. Looks like they solve the excessive idle time problem pretty good, LOL???

 

[soberups]

I only do this when I NEED to get out. I ask 3 times a year and get denied 3 times a year. I don't abuse this method and only do it when ABSOLUTELY necessary. I don't like putting the OMS in the predicament of altering time cards, but I'm owed the hour. It really gets to me that they just can't pay us for the hour worked? They have all the technology to bust a driver who is cheating them, so why not let us run it and go home?

The business plan for each center is designed around screwing a certain percentage of the workforce out of an hour's pay by coercing them into skipping lunch.

They have the ability to pay you; they just dont want to. They are counting on the fact that many drivers will just knuckle under and do the work for free if its too much of a hassle to get paid for that hour.

BTW, what I do if I need to skip my lunch and get home early is to enter "12:00-12:00" in the DIAD for lunch time. I will automatically get paid for the correct number of hours without the OMS needing to change anything. I will also get a little nasty-gram in my slot the next day...or maybe some whining from my sup....which I simply ignore. The worst thing they can possibly do is to issue a warning letter, and all that means is having to wait 9 months and a day before doing it again.

 

[browniehound]

The business plan for each center is designed around screwing a certain percentage of the workforce out of an hour's pay by coercing them into skipping lunch.

They have the ability to pay you; they just dont want to. They are counting on the fact that many drivers will just knuckle under and do the work for free if its too much of a hassle to get paid for that hour.

BTW, what I do if I need to skip my lunch and get home early is to enter "12:00-12:00" in the DIAD for lunch time. I will automatically get paid for the correct number of hours without the OMS needing to change anything. I will also get a little nasty-gram in my slot the next day...or maybe some whining from my sup....which I simply ignore. The worst thing they can possibly do is to issue a warning letter, and all that means is having to wait 9 months and a day before doing it again.

I hear ya, Sober. My daughter is a freshman and she made the varsity cheerleading team. Most of her games are played on Friday night beginning at 7 PM in towns at least .5-1.00 hours away from the center. I bust my hump everyday, but want to get out early every Friday until Thanksgiving. I only ask for these short 5-6 weeks to run my lunch but the center will not oblige.

I'm so proud of her making the varsity team as a FRESHMAN! I missed most of her life growing up but here is my chance to 're-deem?"myself. I'mnot asking for much, but just to see me and my daughter...

 

[stevetheupsguy]

What if I smoke the route and am done at 16:30 or earlier? Wouldn't taking a lunch be a moot point since I get paid for 8 hours anyways?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

What if I smoke the route and am done at 16:30 or earlier? Wouldn't taking a lunch be a moot point since I get paid for 8 hours anyways?

While it is true that you would be paid for 8, your paystub would show actual hours worked and hours guaranteed.

 

[brownmonster]

I take my lunch every day but we only have 1/2 hour. If I had to take an hour I would be spending some time in the bosses office. Way too long.

 

[jeriz]

I have an issue I'm not seeing any post on. Our center manager just decreed we can only take a half hour lunch. Which is fine if you dont have things you need to get done, like dr appt's, ect. We work alot hours in our rural center(looks like the norm on here too)) and the using lunch can be the only way to deal. Is there any language to deal with this if you need more time than a half hour?

 

[brownmonster]

I have an issue I'm not seeing any post on. Our center manager just decreed we can only take a half hour lunch. Which is fine if you dont have things you need to get done, like dr appt's, ect. We work alot hours in our rural center(looks like the norm on here too)) and the using lunch can be the only way to deal. Is there any language to deal with this if you need more time than a half hour?

Not once in many years of driving have I ever had to go to an appointment in the middle of the day. I go to the dentist at 7 in the morning. I get my work physicals while on vacation. If I really need to see the Doc that's what personal days are for.

 

[DS]

I have an issue I'm not seeing any post on. Our center manager just decreed we can only take a half hour lunch. Which is fine if you dont have things you need to get done, like dr appt's, ect. We work alot hours in our rural center(looks like the norm on here too)) and the using lunch can be the only way to deal. Is there any language to deal with this if you need more time than a half hour?

jeriz, read your contract,every one is different,if its half hour then thats all you get.You can code it in as more as long as you don't have any missed and get back in time with your air.

 

[jeriz]

Living in a small town, small center, load our own & other trucks starting before 7:00. Not real unusual to work till 7, personal days are random and I'm the wife, so I dont have one! Think of all the little things she takes care of, kids school schedules, ortho visits, ect! Anyway, not bitchin just need the time to make it work without being in peril. Question is can you take MORE lunch if you need it? We use to HAVE to take an hour, now we can ONLY take half an hour, starting tomorrow. Not written just ODS on diads, call boss for clarification.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Living in a small town, small center, load our own & other trucks starting before 7:00. Not real unusual to work till 7, personal days are random and I'm the wife, so I dont have one! Think of all the little things she takes care of, kids school schedules, ortho visits, ect! Anyway, not bitchin just need the time to make it work without being in peril. Question is can you take MORE lunch if you need it? We use to HAVE to take an hour, now we can ONLY take half an hour, starting tomorrow. Not written just ODS on diads, call boss for clarification.

What's your supplement say? What region?

 

[Theredeemer]

UPS's entire business plan is designed around screwing as many drivers as possible out of their lunch and breaks. It has been this way for decades.

But simply working through your lunch isnt good enough; they also want you to record a full hour so that they can screw you out of an hour's pay.

You need to check your local contract language to see what your rights are. Here we can choose for ourselves whether we want to take an hour lunch or a half hour, and the company cannot arbitrarily deny us the right to take a half hour.

Regardless of what your local language says, you are entitled to be paid for all hours that you actually worked.

Thanks Sober. This is what I was trying to explain in my latest post!!

 

[packagemandan]

We fought that battle in Fl. already, management only wants you to record an hour lunch break, we had documentation on drivers recording the lunch break and showing work at the same time..they didn't care...all they cared about was the break was recorded. I never skip my lunch unless I get approval, but I know for a fact some of the managements "favorites" being kind, in our center do without ramifications, you have two 8 hour requests a month use those on your sports days, it sucks having younger kids and working for UPS cause they don't seem to care.

 

[menotyou]

http://www.labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/wp/LS443.pdf

 

[The Other Side]

OK Im not sure what it is like anywhere else, but in Florida our supervisors are telling us that we have to take and record our full hour lunch.
I know some guys route type premitting would like to skip it, or take part of it, some guys like me have kids in sports and need to be somewhere by 6-6:30 and having that hour would be great.
So when I ask my supervisor if I can skip some of my lunch he says no, but here is the kicker.... I find out the other day that my supervisor lets other drivers take only 15 minutes or some guys no lunch, so i skip it on monday and sure enough Im in the office on tusday.
Im sick of the double standerd.. what is my remidy to either be able to skip my lunch or to force ups to make ALL DRIVERs take the full hour?

This issue keeps coming up on this board, and no matter how many times its explained, you all go down the same roads with the explanations.

First, in bold above, this statement struck me as funny.. If you came to UPS knowing that each day will vary and flucuate with volume, and youre not the top seniority driver in your center, then you are WORKING AT THE WRONG COMPANY.

If all cars could be off the road by 630pm, life at UPS would be a UTOPIA. But this isnt a UTOPIA. This is a tough, long busy day and every driver who takes the job needs to know they wont be home for the 6oclock news, Jeopardy or supper with the family at 6PM.

If you believe that skipping your lunch break benefits you, then you are fooling yourself. Your body needs rest and nutrition, but lets get to the reality of lunch.

It DOES NOT MATTER what the contract says. Let me repeat that, IT DOES NOT MATTER what the contract says. "We" ( UPS and the Teamsters) are bound to follow the STATE LAW before the contract. Our contract can never supercede a STATE LAW.

Do you all understand this? Forget the contract, forget what page its on. Find your STATE LAWS on lunch and comply with that.

Here in california, the lawsuit that everyone keeps mentioning came down to our contract violating california STATE LAW. UPS lost this case on lunch and paid us well because it was determined they used contractual agreements to violate STATE LAW.

Your local union should be learning what the state law provides and frame the lunch agreements around that law.

As far as skipping lunches by punching out and continuing delivering, I say, fire these drivers! UPS should punish them for falsifying records and dishonesty. Dishonesty is dishonesty. All across this country, drivers take their lunch and breaks to rest and feed themselves. Running through the day "off the clock" places UPS in jeopardy and the rest of us in jeopardy.

If you need to be home by 6PM and you are a driver, then you came to work for the wrong company. Im in 21 years now, and I work close to 59 1/2 hours a week. I take two lunches a day along with 3 breaks, and believe me, I aint giving up my breaks to do company work for FREE.

Those that do that need to be caught, punished and fired if serious enough.

The stewards who are looking for violators are doing the right thing. They can address the issue first before it becomes a more serious problem. Id rather "tune up" a driver before I have to defend him.

Peace.

 

[brownmonster]

The following is the law in Wisconsin


Wisconsin law does not require that employers provide brief rest periods, coffee breaks or meal periods for adult employees, although the Department recommends, in Chapter DWD 274.02(2) of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, that employers do so.
Employers are encouraged, but not required, to provide breaks of at least 30 minutes in duration at times reasonably close to the usual meal period. Such matters are to be determined directly between the employer and the employee.

 

[brownmonster]

Want to end the lunch skipping problem? Make lunch 20 minutes nationwide. We have 30 minutes here. 1 hour is way too long.

 

[thessalonian13]

OK Im not sure what it is like anywhere else, but in Florida our supervisors are telling us that we have to take and record our full hour lunch.
I know some guys route type premitting would like to skip it, or take part of it, some guys like me have kids in sports and need to be somewhere by 6-6:30 and having that hour would be great.
So when I ask my supervisor if I can skip some of my lunch he says no, but here is the kicker.... I find out the other day that my supervisor lets other drivers take only 15 minutes or some guys no lunch, so i skip it on monday and sure enough Im in the office on tusday.
Im sick of the double standerd.. what is my remidy to either be able to skip my lunch or to force ups to make ALL DRIVERs take the full hour?

I take my hour lunch every day between 130pm and 230pm. If I need to get done early, I request an 8 hour day.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

I take my hour lunch every day between 130pm and 230pm. If I need to get done early, I request an 8 hour day.

And still take a full lunch!

 

[themidnightoil]

Want to end the lunch skipping problem? Make lunch 20 minutes nationwide. We have 30 minutes here. 1 hour is way too long.

I heard that in some areas, the DIADs shut down from 12-1 so a driver must take their lunch. not sure if true or not.