If my supervisor calls for a 15min break, and we all shut the machines off at exactly 1:00am (for example), and it takes me 3 minutes to get to the cafeteria, and thinking ahead, it takes me probably 4 minutes to get back to my machine to turn it back on and put my PPE back on, does that mean, 7 minutes of my 15min break is removed because they expect us to be back up and running machines at exactly 1:15am?
I have been taking my ENTIRE 15 minutes of my break within the cafeteria walls, and when 15 minutes is up, I leave the cafeteria. And I get told when I come back that I took a 22min break according to the downtime.
To clarify, my two 15 min breaks and my 30 min lunch are paid. I work 12hr shifts in manufacturing.
It pisses me off that they use this logic to dictate our required break times like this. With their logic, if it took me 7 minutes to walk to the cafeteria, and 8 minutes back, I wouldn't even get to sit down. It blows my mind. Their excuse is, “that's just the way it is”.
What can I do about this? Can I voice my opinion and tell them I'm taking my full break in the cafeteria because the down-time on their log is not my break time.