Archived Hypothetical Situation

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Situation: You or another co-worker are ordered by your STL to not take your lunch and told to add it later via punch correction. Assume other ETLs in store are not going to be of any help.

What would you do in this situation? Also assume for this hypothetical situation that the lunch period is state law in addition to being company policy.

The Dude
 
Two areas of concern.

1. Internally reporting would almost certainly lead to retaliation. Everyone who has called the Hotline at my store has been punished for doing so. I wouldn't even know how to contact HRBP.
2. If I bring the state in I'd be worried about people lying to cover this up. I personally have never been forced to not punch out for lunch, but I have witnessed it. The problem is the people who are being forced to are trying to move up the ladder and would be reticent to come forward.
 
I don't think these people would. The STL only makes people do this who are blindly loyal and being dangled a possible promotion in front of them. Today I asked one of these people about it and he said it's messed up, but it's not too bad. When I told him it's against policy he just said, yeah, but I gotta do this so I can get an ETL position some day.

Also I don't know how to contact district office at all. Our DTL is pretty aloof and doesn't talk to anyone who isn't a TL about business.
 
I would sort of innocently ask another ETL or STL or whatever if that's what I was supposed to do. If they aren't in on it, I'd just take my lunch and if the other person said something, I'd say "I was confused and so-n-so said I should take my meal" and then I'd report it to someone.

If the second person I asked is in on it, I'd either go to the integrity hotline or the state labor board.

I'd take my meal in both situations, to be honest. I'm not even productive if I'm hungry. Every time I work while hungry, I get half as much done as I would any other time. They've been scheduling me for these 5.5 hour shifts lately and it's the worst. My stomach is almost always growling by hour 4. Bad times.
 
I believe your HRBP is located under Store Reports --> Store Fact Sheet but I could be wrong. Target emails are most always firstname.lastname@target.com. Create a throwaway email and anonymously send a message to them.

That's not a half bad idea. I believe you are right on the store fact sheet I have seen the list of names there. I never thought to use it for e-mail purposes.
 
Start spreading the word.
Get the info out there, no matter if it is in emails, the hotline, (you can do that anonymously) but make sure there is pressure so it doesn't happen any more.
Make sure you write down any times when you've hears of it happening so you have you ducks in a row just in case.
The important thing is to get them to stop doing it and to make sure they don't think they can get away with pushing people around.
When they know they are being watched and there will be consequences for being douchenozzles than maybe life will get back to normal.
 
first off, take your lunch correctly, regardless of workload or meetings, and don't let them change your time. if you know they are doing it and are condoning it, you can be termed.
our hretl was termed because the stl told him to add our lunches due to compliance during tl meetings. didn't matter that he was told to do it, the hrbp's outlook was that this is in the handbook, and EVERY SINGLE TM KNOWS BETTER. the stl and etlhr was termed, along with two tl who were changing their team's times due to compliance issues. they just wanted a great team score and didn't care that tm would go eight hours without a lunch. yes, this is my ultimate pet peeve---green scores at the expense of your team's well-being.

do not use JUST the hotline, the dtl, or the hrbp. send an email to all three. make sure you have specifics about the times that were corrected. you guys should be using MAX self service to justify punches. make sure you're putting the reason for your punches on there. if HR is keying punches without these or the written form, they are violating bp. also, keep a written journal of your punch in/out and lunch times to back it up. it doesn't matter if they just change one or one hundred--it's a serious violation, immediate termination. it also breaks several state laws (in my state anyway). some people are too scared to do the right thing. stick up for yourself and for those who can't.
 
Interestingly enough I looked at my states labor laws and was surprised you CAN actually work without having a meal. I however would always take a lunch break and never do a punch correction even if my STL told me to.
If more than 5 hours are worked in a shift:

Workers must be allowed at least a 30-minute meal period.
Workers must be at least 2 hours into the shift before the meal time can start.
The meal time cannot start more than 5 hours after the beginning of the shift.

However

Workers may give up their meal period if they prefer to work through it and if the employer agrees.
Business owners please note: The Department of Labor & Industries recommends that you get a written statement from workers who want to give up their meal periods.
 
Interestingly enough I looked at my states labor laws and was surprised you CAN actually work without having a meal. I however would always take a lunch break and never do a punch correction even if my STL told me to.
If more than 5 hours are worked in a shift:

Workers must be allowed at least a 30-minute meal period.
Workers must be at least 2 hours into the shift before the meal time can start.
The meal time cannot start more than 5 hours after the beginning of the shift.

However

Workers may give up their meal period if they prefer to work through it and if the employer agrees.
Business owners please note: The Department of Labor & Industries recommends that you get a written statement from workers who want to give up their meal periods.

I was pretty surprised myself how varied the laws were from state and even between professions.
Sad to say many of those changes came in the last five or six years with the new majorities in state houses.
But Spots rules are based on the states with the toughest laws and as such the main offices are death on anyone who does false punch forms to or doesn't take their unpaid lunch.
Even in states where it's not a law.
Dek had the best advice.
Take the breaks, don't fake your paperwork, because in long run it will fall back on you not the people who told you to do it.
 
Our state has tough laws....if you work more than 7 hours, you must get a half hour meal no later than the fifth hour. Of course the last place I worked didn't believe in breaks or lunches, so I know how hard that is.

Stories like this make me fear our new STL who starts at our store in another week and a half. So many unknowns...
 
Legally, since you are not being asked to not take lunches you have no standing to actually bring any kind of charges in the long run. Short term though, I would do what others have said and let your HRBP, DTL, and integrity know what is going on. That is a serious violation of company policy and possibly state law. From the company's standpoint, those ETLs are putting the company in a position of major liability, not to mention a PR nightmare. For anything to get resolved in the long run, those that are being told to skip their lunches are going to have to come forward and let someone know that this is going on. It's very possible they could lose their jobs as well. Hopefully they know that skipping lunches is not going to get them to ETL. They should probably be taking hour long lunches and 45 minute breaks if they want to be like many of the ETLs in the company! But seriously, if they know it is wrong and are going along with it, they are complicit in the wrong doing and guilty of falsifying company records. Plus, don't they want to be paid for their work?
 
I should note that I have not been asked nor would I forge a punch like that. I don't get paid enough to work when I'm supposed to be on lunch. The people doing this are being forced to do so because they are blindly loyal to the company.
 
Our state has tough laws....if you work more than 7 hours, you must get a half hour meal no later than the fifth hour. Of course the last place I worked didn't believe in breaks or lunches, so I know how hard that is.

Stories like this make me fear our new STL who starts at our store in another week and a half. So many unknowns...

Well at 6 hours, you hit compliance at my store. I take my lunch break as I see fit since I have STLs permission to do whatever is needed to ensure the integrity and freshness of consumeables. I take my lunch at the 5:55 mark. I come back from lunch and have 2.5 hours left. My day goes by faster, plus I get to smoke a bowl on my last 15.

much ado about nothing. Take your breaks. You're legally entitled to it. If management tries to tell you otherwise, thats what the dept of labor and integrity hotline is for. People only have power over you if you allow it.
 
Why would one even want to be an ETL at such a ****ty company that views anyone below ETLs as expendable?
 
Why would one even want to be an ETL at such a ****ty company that views anyone below ETLs as expendable?

They don't think they can do anything else and view that position as some sort of magic place of absolute authority. I don't know what drives people some times.
 
Why would one even want to be an ETL at such a ****ty company that views anyone below ETLs as expendable?

Before I started at Target I saw it as a great job as soon as I graduate. Now, I see it as a position that will make me slowly develop alcoholism and make me hate this place even more.
 
Why would one even want to be an ETL at such a ****ty company that views anyone below ETLs as expendable?

ETLs seem more expendable then anyone. If one lasts a year it is kind of amazing. Target seems to think the stores and its workers are the least important part of the company. And they wonder why sales are off.
 
I used to think that the STL turnover rate was higher than ETL's, but now I don't know. Still waiting for my STL to get canned.
 
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