Update on message re: Entrance gate is up & customer exited through it

[snugglegirl05]

I posted a message on the sucky customer section on 1/13/09, & this is the outcome.

I received a phone call this morning from "Kim", the supervisor I report to at the univeristy where I work as a contract employee asking me why I did not contact her or her staff members at Visitor Parking/Community Relations. I told her the customer asked to speak to the Parking office.

"Kim" told me that the female customer, a new student, filed a complaint with Student Enrollment Services & the Parking office stating that she was treated horribly by the Parking office, that she will tell everyone she knows how horribly the Parking office treated her, & to never attend the university. A Student Enrollment Services staff member contacted her regarding what happened & mentioned that I contacted the Parking office. She told me the Parking office put a "hold" on the new student's account since her information is in their database for the $5.00 parking fee she did not pay because she exited through the entrance gate, which was up.

"Kim" asked me if I was inside the booth when the female customer arrived. I told her I was inside the bathroom when she arrived. When I have to leave the booth for any reason, I have to contact the office. I did that, but there was no answer. I called "Kim" on her cell, but it did not roll over to voice mail. I also called "Melinda", "Kim's" assistant, but I got voice mail. I left the office voice mail. I told "Kim" this. She realized the 2 gates next to the booth were up since I have to leave them up when I am away from the booth so when Metro lift drops off a customer, they can enter the garage since the drop off is located inside the garage.

There is a sign in front of the Visitor Parking entrance stating Visitor Parking is $5.00 per vehicle as well as 3 signs, which can be easily seen, inside the garage stating Visitor Parking is $5.00 per entry.

Then "Kim" says this:
"That has been a problem several times when you are away from the booth. People enter the garage when you are away from the booth, & they want out for free since no one was inside the booth to tell them it is $5.00 to exit. I do not mind if you take a bathroom break, but the I have to contact the Parking company general manager & the manager over the account regarding this. The booth needs to be staffed when you are away." The parking company I work for has a contract with the university. According to "Kim" someone from the parking company has to relieve me for a break.

I have worked at the university since March 2006, & no one from the parking company has relieved me for any break. The longest I can be away from the booth is 15 minutes, & this information is stated in the guidelines written by one of "Kim's" staff members & approved by "Kim". So I eat my breakfast & lunch inside the booth every day. Luckily, there is a microwave inside the booth. I doubt anyone from the parking company will relieve me for a 15 minute break.

[Geek King]

Notify the parking company you work for of the issue immediately. They need to know that Kim is trying to modify the contract and rules she signed and agreed to without going through proper channels. Ask them to go over the rules with her again, since she seems to be having an issue with them.

Is it just me, or is this the worst parking setup ever? Is there not a sign posted that states parking is $5.00 payable to the Parking Dept.? That school needs to seriously overhaul their parking policies for that garage. Not your fault snugglegirl, but you're the one feeling the squeeze.

[Dips]

You need to take bathroom breaks as you need them. How Kim gets those covered is up to her, not you.

Just keep taking your breaks as you need them and let Kim figure it out. It's her job.

OSHA covers this in the following interpretation:

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owad...ONS&p_id=22932

You may want to print out a copy for Kim. The relevant section is this one:

"In light of the standard's purpose of protecting employees from the hazards created when toilets are not available, it is clear that the standard requires employers to allow employees prompt access to sanitary facilities. Restrictions on access must be reasonable, and may not cause extended delays. For example, a number of employers have instituted signal or relief worker systems for employees working on assembly lines or in other jobs where any employee's absence, even for the brief time it takes to go to the bathroom, would be disruptive. Under these systems, an employee who needs to use the bathroom gives some sort of a signal so that another employee may provide relief while the first employee is away from the work station. As long as there are sufficient relief workers to assure that employees need not wait an unreasonably long time to use the bathroom [emphasis mine], OSHA believes that these systems comply with the standard."

That pretty clearly states that it is the EMPLOYER'S responsibility to make sure relief is available to take over if it is a requirement for leaving your station. If nobody picks up the phone when you call for relief, then they have to let you leave to use the bathroom regardless. They have no choice.

$5.00 and a pissed of student are NOTHING compared to what OSHA would do to them if they found out they were preventing you from using the bathroom.

[Akasa]

If you work full time it is also federal law you get to take a 2 15 minute breaks and one al least 30 minute lunch break.
I'm sure OSHA would be VERY interested in you're not being able to leave the booth for your breaks.

[smileyeagle1021]

If you work full time it is also federal law you get to take a 2 15 minute breaks and one al least 30 minute lunch break.
I'm sure OSHA would be VERY interested in you're not being able to leave the booth for your breaks.

There are ways around that... a lot of businesses do "working breaks"... basically if you have very low customer volume (such as a hotel... it is not unusual, especially on my shift, for there to be half hour periods without guests) you can say the person is on break but that break can be interrupted and restarted. While not entirely within the law, most of us in those jobs would not complain to save our lives because if they were to actually time our breaks they'd find we get much more than the 2 15s and one half hour.

That said, to the OP's company, they may want to do the same thing SLCC does for their visitor parking, put an automatic gate at the entry with a ticket dispenser, the city transit can just be waved through on the way out, if the gate is manned then the visitor has no way of saying they didn't know they have to pay (after all, they pushed the button for the exit ticket, almost no one is stupid enough to think that means free) and for the breaks the lost revenue from letting people just leave by leaving the exit gate up would be much less than the cost of hiring a second employee.

[Dips]

If you work full time it is also federal law you get to take a 2 15 minute breaks and one al least 30 minute lunch break.
I'm sure OSHA would be VERY interested in you're not being able to leave the booth for your breaks.

Scheduled breaks don't really fall under the purview of OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) because OSHA are only concerned about health and safety, not other working conditions.

So scheduled breaks (such as lunch, 15 minutes, etc.) aren't an OSHA matter (usually). That would fall under federal Dept. of Labor regulations, but the federal government has chosen to mostly leave that matter up to each state. Many states don't require that employers give any breaks at all and for the others there are often many loopholes, such as for stations that are manned by single employees (such as a convenience store, a hotel desk or snugglegirl's situation). Of course, lunch breaks taken at your station must be paid lunch breaks.

All OSHA requires here is that these employees who can't easily leave their stations are given an opportunity to eat at their stations and be able to leave the station to use the restroom as necessary. Until now snugglegirl's employer has been fine as far as OSHA is concerned. They allow her to eat at her station and until now, allowed her to leave the gates up and use the restroom as needed. What's happening here is that the employer is trying to impose new restrictions on using the bathroom that could violate the law if they prevent reasonable use of the bathroom.

Nobody can require a human being to endanger their own health or safety just to keep their job and livlihood, nor may they penalize an employee who puts his or her own health and safety ahead of convenience.

[wagegoth]

If you work full time it is also federal law you get to take a 2 15 minute breaks and one al least 30 minute lunch break.
I'm sure OSHA would be VERY interested in you're not being able to leave the booth for your breaks.

The laws vary from state to state. It may be federal regulations for federal employees.

[wagegoth]

If I understand this correctly, snugglegirl does NOT work for the university; she works for an outside contractor. She is required to contact university employees whenever she takes a break, but the university is NOT providing coverage for her breaks.

Snugglegirl should immediately contact her employer about the calls. Explain everything that is going on. It is up to her employer to fulfill their side of the contract with the university, and, if the university is making demands outside the scope of the contract, then the employer needs to deal with the university.

Snugglegirl needs to be completely removed from the issue. It is not her problem. She is fulfilling the job duties as they were explained to her. It is up to her employer to notify her if the duties have changed.

Also, snugglegirl needs to tell the employer about all the crap she has been receiving from the university employees over issues with complaints. The university employees are abusing her, when they should be dealing with her employer. Snugglegirl should not be calling to whine, but to inform. She needs to find out her contact person at the employer and deal with that person.

When Snugglegirl receives calls like this, she should immediately tell the university employees that she will be happy to contact her employer about the issue, she will do it right away, then say good-bye and hang up. If they call back, she should tell them that the issue is something to be discussed with her employer and she has called her employer and informed them of the issue. My guess is that these university employees have no power over the contract, they have been designated to deal with the daily issues, and are taking out their frustrations on SG.

[Dips]

If I understand this correctly, snugglegirl does NOT work for the university; she works for an outside contractor.

Excellent point. The university wouldn't have the authority to change working conditions in that case.

Fulfill your side of the contract. If they refuse fulfull their side so you can use the restroom, screw 'em. Use it anyway. You have the right.

But do document these incidents and inform your boss at the contractor of what is going on in case the university decides to complain. Cover your butt.