Question: I work for a very small company and have some concerns about company policies and practices. The owner doesn't pay for jury duty; we haven't had a raise in three years; employees who work in-house get breaks but techs on the road don't and even though in-house employees get breaks, they can't go outside during the break. The owner provides coffee but if we want coffee from elsewhere we can't go out to get it on a break. Last, our employer keeps tabs on us when we are on the road. We have a global positioning system in our cars and it's not unusual for the company to telephone customers to see if we are there. I find all of this annoying and am wondering if it's legal?
Answer: Alas, the practices, though not employee-friendly, are probably legal.
If your employer has no more than 10 employees, it doesn't have to pay workers while they serve on a jury, according to New York State judiciary laws. In that case the governmental entity pays the jury fee, which is $40 a day for all New York State courts and town and village courts.
On the other hand, an employer with more than 10 employees must pay employees at least $40 for the first three days of jury service, said Ellen Storch, counsel at Kaufman, Dolowich, Voluck & Gonzo in Woodbury, N.Y.
After that the government picks up the tab, unless a company continues to pay employees their wages during jury duty. Some employers, particularly the larger ones, continue to pay.
ADVERTISEMENT
As for the raises, labor laws don't mandate salary increases.
"Absent a contract stating otherwise, employers are not obligated to give raises," Storch said. "They must, however, comply with the minimum-wage laws."
As for breaks, New York labor law regarding breaks generally doesn't distinguish between those employees who work on-site and those who work off-site, she said.
What's more, state labor laws mandate a meal break only, and even that depends on how many hours an employee works. Specifically, an employee who works a shift lasting more than six hours a day is entitled to a meal break of at least 30 minutes.
Companies don't have to pay for meal breaks but they have to give employees at least 30 minutes of "uninterrupted" time for that break. Employers on their own can grant employees coffee breaks or other breaks. They can always do more than labor laws call for.
Meal-break rules have exceptions, though, Storch points out. For example, if just one person is on duty or is the only one in a specific occupation, it is customary for the employee to eat on the job without being relieved, Storch said. But that rule also has an exception. Here is what the state Labor Department's website says:
"The Department of Labor will accept these special situations as compliance with meal break laws where the employee voluntarily consents to the arrangements," the site says. "However, an uninterrupted meal period must be afforded to every employee who requests this from an employer."
As for being required to take your break on-site, that's legal, too, as long as you are "completely relieved from duty," Storch said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Your question regarding companies using GPS to track employees is more difficult to answer, Storch said, because laws on the topic are still evolving.
But she said, "There is nothing impermissible about an employer verifying whether workers are appearing at appointments as scheduled." For more on employees and jury duty, go to nyjuror.gov/users/wwwucs/.
