The Only First Aid on your site * Paid Meal Breaks
The Only First Aid on your site * Paid Meal Breaks
Employment Standards Act
Part 4, section 32 (2) states under the Employment Standards Act of BC that if you are The Only First Aid on your site, and no other person is available to take over your duties during the day due to size and the requirements of the site, then your lunch is a paid meal break. After All, how many first aid people do you know that actually take off their heavy overstuffed medical gear vis-vest and go out for lunch. I know I don’t.
The actual section from the Employment Standards Act reads like this:
Meal breaks 32
(1) An employer must ensure
(a)that no employee works more than 5 consecutive hours without a meal break, and
(b)that each meal break lasts at least a 1/2 hour.
(2) An employer who requires an employee to work or be available for work during a meal break must count the meal break as time worked by the employee.
Paid Meal Breaks
So your 30-minute deduction for lunch just turned into an hours pay due to you already worked 8 or more. I only sad part about this, and well there are 2 things.
- If you don’t work there any longer you can only file for the last 6 months. 5 days a week equals out to 60 hours of overtime pay. Now they will challenge it, fight and you won’t see any of your overtime pay for a while. You might even have to go to meditation.
- The second one is a little more tricky. You’re still with your company and well you want your 2 to 3 thousand dollars. Talk to them, maybe it was an honest mistake. After all, we deal in WorkSafe BC law every day and we don’t know it all. Talk to them and see what they say. You will soon learn what side of the loyalty fence your company is on right then and there.
If you are owed overtime and still working for the company, maybe a trade-off can be negotiated. However, We didn't choose this profession to become rich. We chose it because of our passion for safety and protecting others.
The symbol of a First Aid Attendant
Pingback: Blogging About Construction Safety, Accidents, WCB Act of BC, Events
I am currently asking my employer for around $8000 in unpaid breaks. Not only have I worked hundreds of hours of paid overtime but also hundreds of hours of unpaid OT which I am not asking for. I am a level 3 FA, CSO, TCP, CSE, mobile equipment operator, and general handyman on site. I work like an animal and own the site from start to finish. Sub-trades really like me and keep insisting on having me work with them. I recently realized I should have been paid for the breaks and politely asked for compensation. It has not gone well and tomorrow I get to sit down with the big managers and HR. I feel like I need to stand my ground. I don’t want to lose my job however the industry is hungry for good workers and i regularly receive job offers.
I was looking around on the internet and found this site. I have bookmarked it and will be back very soon to find out what is available and to see if there is anything I can provide. Thanks for the work you do.