BEST OF THE WEB: Give Me a Break

When is a break in the action break time for an employee?
    
Matthew Schattner recently queried the Lawn & Landscape Online Message Board community on whether traveling the long distance to the next jobsite warranted the designation of an official employee break, allowing the worker to eat his lunch, make a personal cell phone call or simply kick back and relax.
 
“It’s a reasonably long distance to our next stop,” Schattner says. “So can I tell him he’s ‘on break’ while riding in the truck?” While the employee hasn’t complained, Schattner wants to know where he stands if the subject ever becomes an issue.
 
Schattner’s query sheds some light on a common gray area for many contractors. Two main issues, according to message board commentary, center on when it’s appropriate to consider downtime an official break and whether breaks should be paid.
 
It’s not the laborer’s fault if the landscape contractor’s accounts are spread over a wide geographic area, posts Andrew Aksar, president of Outdoor Finishes in Walkersville, Md. “You are buying the worker’s time,” he says. “Just like how your clients are buying your time, you have to compensate him or her for their time.”
 
Chad Stern, owner of Mowing & More in Chevy Chase, Md., says a good rule of thumb in determining when an employee is on break vs. when he’s on the clock is whether the individual has the freedom to engage in non work-related activities. “When he’s in the truck can he go shopping or meet a friend?” Stern says. “If the answer is ‘no’ then he is working and is on the clock. A break means that the employee can do whatever he wants with his time.”
 
Truck time is work time, posts Sal Mortilla, president, Landscape Unlimited, Long Island, N.Y., who adds that he makes breaks mandatory for his crew. “I actually have to force my guys to take their breaks,” he points out. “I allow them to stop whenever they feel they need to. An over tired or dead employee is of no use to anyone.”
 
State laws vary quite a bit on the issue of employee breaks, posts Bill Smallwood, owner of W.J. Smallwood Landscaping in Salem, N.H. In fact, some states mandate that employers provide workers with lunch and periodic rest breaks and if the employer fails to comply he or she can be held liable for back pay for each day there was a violation. When in doubt about local labor laws, Smallwood advises contractors to place a call to their states’ department of labor office.
 
Contractors were split on the matter of supplying workers with an “official” or “real” lunch break. Some posted to the message board that they allow workers to eat lunch in between jobsites because the workers would much rather complete their tasks and leave for the day earlier rather than stop for a lunch break. Other contractors, though, say they prefer to stop work and provide a lunch break.
 
However, some question whether workers should be compensated for these designated break times.
 
With the premium placed on quality laborers, Aksar posts not providing certain perks, such as paid breaks, only hamstrings landscape contractors. “In this day and age, with the difficulty in finding good people to employ, I do all I can to keep my employees happy,” he says. “Labor laws should not even play a part in this discussion because if you want a good employee you will treat them well.
 
“If you nickel-and-dime workers, then you get back what you put in,” he adds. “My guys get paid for travel time – always have, always will. If they take a break in the afternoon, they still get paid. The last thing I want to do is step on their toes.”
 
While some contractors expressed the importance of keeping workers happy, others indicated that compensating idle workers may make them less competitive in the marketplace.
 
For example, Todd McCabe, president, McCabe Landscape Group, Wrightsville Beach, N.C., recently finished a project that was an hour drive to and from the jobsite. At one point McCabe contemplated only paying the drivers and not compensating the laborers, but he decided against it.
 
“Paying four or five guys for two hours of travel time on projects that last a few weeks can add up,” McCabe says. “On some of these jobs we are basically giving the employees a ride to and from the jobsite. These are commercial jobs. Employees of other subcontractors don’t arrive in a taxi.
 
“We would be much more competitive in our pricing if we didn’t have to account for travel time,” he adds.
 
Other contractors agreed, adding on jobs requiring long distances of travel they give workers the option of driving themselves or using their transportation, with the understanding that the clock does not start until they arrive on site.
 
Some contractors prefer to pay travel time for practical reasons. For example, if an employee is in a company truck and gets into an accident they want that worker covered by worker’s compensation insurance.
 
Bryan Taynor, president of Taynor Landscape Design in Gahanna, Ohio, posts that not compensating for travel time is a poor business practice. “Years ago I worked for a company that only paid drivers,” he posts. “I thought it was cheap then and it’s just as cheap now. Pay your people for the time required for the job, travel or not, and stay closer to home. Take care of your people or someone else will.”