Common use of Rest and Meal Period Clause in Contracts

Rest and Meal Period. The employees will have a rest period and a compensated meal period as follows. a. During the normal work day, (a day in which the employee has an assigned lunch duty) employees will be entitled to two (2) fifteen minute rest periods, one at approximately 10 a.m. and one at approximately 2 p.m., and a paid lunch period of thirty minutes. The Employer will schedule rest periods and meal period for employees having due consideration for the regulations requiring staffing ratios for clients during this period, which may require that rest periods and lunch periods be taken in the presence of the clients. The Employer, however, will schedule each employee for one (1) duty-free lunch period per week at each of its facilities. Employees who are not able to take their rest periods at the normal time may take their break at another time which will not unduly interfere with the delivery of services to clients. This may include times when clients are generally not present such as 8 – 9 a.m. or 3 – 4 p.m. Employees who anticipate taking breaks at other than the normal times should agree upon a different time in consultation with their supervisor. b. Scheduling will continue with employees exerting their best efforts to schedule themselves in order to provide one (1) duty-free lunch period per week at each of its facilities. i. If the duty free lunch period cannot be scheduled for any reason and if the workload permits, an employee will be entitled to leave work thirty (30) minutes early on the last day of work that week or a mutually agreed date during the next work week, provided that the responsible manager agrees. ii. In the absence of the ability to take compensatory time off within one (1) work week, the employee will be entitled to request overtime pay for that lunch period even though the work week did not exceed forty (40) hours. iii. In the event of such a request, management will review the scheduling procedure in an effort to remedy the situation. iv. The same policy applies to all employees covered by this agreement.