I work in a fastfood chain. We had a meal policy. As of yesterday our franchise has scrapped the whole meal policy and has said that everyone needs to take a break. Being a fastfood place the meal policy was there in case we got too busy and people weren't able to take their break (I know wording it that way is illegal. I didn't know it was illegal at the start of my employment and managers back then stood by that. If you got a break you didn't get a meal. That changed and you were able to have both). Can this be removed? I believe meal policy's are made up at the discretion of the franchise and not something the company has set.
Also, can this be removed without any warning to staff? Our senior management told a lower management member and she has been left to tell everyone about it. There has been no other communication between senior management/franchise with any other staff members. The notice given was less than 24 hours before scraping the policy.
Our workplace can get extremely busy, fast. Taking a break just isn't realistic or it's easier to just work through your shift without one.
Does the employer still have to offer a form of compensation if the employee declines a break offer?
🇳🇿 located in New Zealand.