Does your federal agency require lunch?
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Anonymous
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Close friend just started working as a federal employee for a defense agency. Apparently they don’t have to take a lunch and can leave after 8 hours of working (versus 8.5 hours). She says that her agency isn’t bound by the union contract that enforces the 8.5 hour workday. Is this true? That extra half hour would be incredible to get back (more time at home and would make a big dent in traffic volume) since none of us take lunches at my department. I was told that the union contract requires it at my work, but is this changing? Is there any way to lobby to get rid of the half hour required lunch? I’ve been a fed at 3 different departments and they all forced us to work the extra half hour even if we didn’t stop working/eat lunch.
Does your federal agency require lunch? |
Anonymous
| Yes |
Anonymous
| All fedr al agencies require lunch. It's the law. Some supervisors just don't care and the agency looks the other way. |
Anonymous
OP here. My friend is very adamant that it's a new change at her work and that they don't have a union. I'm not sure I believe it, but want to hold out hope. |
Anonymous
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OPM rules say everyone has to take lunch, regardless of whether they're in a union. Your friend's situation may be unique because she's under DOD.
Either way the half hour lunch thing is stupid, and many agencies don't actually enforce it. Try to get a job where you're not in the bargaining unit. |
Anonymous
There are generally great advantages to being in a bargaining unit. Mine is one of the main reasons that I stay at my job. In our agency, bargaining unit employees have much more scheduling and telework opportunities than non-bargaining unit. |
Anonymous
I was an attorney in the bargaining unit before I switched agencies, and the difference was night and day. At the old job, supervisors would watch the clock like hawks. They cared more about who signed into WebTA five minutes late than they did actually developing employees. Thanks to the union, every aspect of our work had to be quantified, making the job feel like a factory under Taylorism where all that mattered were production numbers (they couldn't quantify quality, so volume was all that mattered). Things like moving to an empty cubicle were huge ordeals because they had to go through the union, and management was so defensive about everything that you couldn't even ask for feedback on work without having a formal meeting about it. Oh, but there was telework available. Meanwhile, at the new job, attorneys are treated like actual professionals. We don't have formal flex schedules, but supervisors don't care when you get into work so long as you're work gets done well. If you want to skip lunch one day, no one will bat an eyelash because the bosses actually trust us to behave like adults. Overall, everything is 1000 times more collegial and pleasant. We still get telework, too. |
Anonymous
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At my agency we take lunch because umm we're hungry around noon.
I have skipped my lunch in order to get off early, but of course I informed my supervisor. |
Anonymous
But your supervisor let you. Many many don't and stick to the letter of the law and not let you take your lunch at the end of the day. |
Anonymous
| You don't eat lunch at all? Or you do (at your desk)? |
Anonymous
| 30 minutes required at my agency. Can't take it at the end of the day to leave early. big no-no. |
Anonymous
That's the rule here, but other bosses don't seem to mind. |
Anonymous
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Huh. Not enforced at my agency. Why the eff does OPM and the unions get to decide that I can't take my lunch at 5pm if that is when I want to take my lunch?
Most people here work a 5/4/9 and that extra 30 minutes really seems to add a lot to a 9 hour day. |
Anonymous
So when do you eat. And OPM can determine when you take your lunch since they're responsible for managing the federal workforce. |
Anonymous
| I eat at noonish at my desk and work through it. |