Change Request for Lunch Break Time Frames for 12 Hour Employees

This is not possible with our assignments and cares

This would be so helpful. It is unrealistic and not helpful to take a break that early.

Current rule is not practical for 12 hour shifts.

This law is not conducive to people who work 12 hour shifts!

7 years ago Featured

I work a 12 hour day shift and like to take a break around 5 hours into the shift but if my patient is going to deliver a baby I want to be with her and not forced to take a break. Sometimes this means taking my break after the designated time. On our unit we are like firemen. Work til the fire’s out then rest until the next fire starts.

No one really wants to take a break before 11 and its not reasonable to make sure ALL nurses have eaten by 1. I feel that as long as a nurse is done with their lunch before 3 that ahould be fine!

Thank you for taking our workers’ rights so seriously. I am grateful for a governing body that oversees working conditions. However, our roles as RNs are so unique that a blanket law does not apply well to our work flow. We must be physically and mentally fit (i.e. take breaks and eat) to fulfill the duties of our jobs and provide, above all, safe patient care, but this requires flexibility as to when we take our breaks. Handing over patient care to a colleague during critical periods can result in adverse outcomes for our patients. I urge you to please listen to us healthcare professionals and trust our judgement regarding our own well being so we can effectively care for the well being of others. Thank you in advance for your understanding and exception for healthcare professionals to the terms of this labor law.

I would love to be treated as an adult that can handle taking my own break- when convenient for me and at a good time for my current patient load.

Please adjust to accommodate for 12 hour shifts!

I am in favor of having the option to go to lunch later than the sixth hour of a 12-hour shift.

As a Charge Nurse at Legacy Health, I urge BOLI to allow our 12hr employees more flexibility with our lunch meals. My employees are receiving their proper break/meal periods, but having such rigid requirements in the very fluid environment of health care is ridiculous. We should have the autonomy to determine, within reason, when our employees prefer to have their lunch periods within a 12hr day.

Legacy Heath system employee

I work for legacy health

We work 12 hour shifts not 8 by the time we get off work we are starving do to taking lunch so early!

We should not be penalized for taking our lunch after the first 6 hrs of our shift. Lunch times cannot be standardized because patient care is unpredictable and sometimes we have emergencies and our patients need us. We should be allowed to take our lunch when it fits in with our schedule. The important thing is that we are getting our lunch and breaks and not defining when we take them. Our patients come first.

Forced lunch times make the workflow incredibly difficult, forced lunch times are way too early to actually leave the floor for a break nor is anyone actually hungry or in need of a break at that time.

Thank you for starting this petition!

Hi Ashlee, My name is Allison Filipovic and I’m one of the authors of this letter. Your comment has a lot of great information and we’d like to find out more about what BOLI said to you. Can you message me on Facebook so I can get you my contact information and we can chat?

I would love to find out the authors of the petition. I am a nurse at RCH and have been in contact with BOLI as well. I made the same request to them in an email. I was told that BOLI doesn’t make the law; it just enforces it. I was told by BOLI that we needed to take the matter up with our representative in the state congress/senate in order to get the law changed. I was planning on reaching out to my Congress person after the election but wanted to see if we could combine efforts. I imagine a petition such as this might make a statement to our representatives to take up this cause on our behalf.

Would like to sign a petition.