Hi,

I am appling via PNP.I noticed that my future employer offers 2 tea breaks a day however these are not paid.Is this the norm?
I also get lunch break(1/2 hour) also unpaid but that is obvious.

Yes

Yes.

And they tell you off if you don't take 'em, and no they won't pay you if you work through them!

Where I work you don't get paid your 1/2 hour lunch but you do get paid your tea breaks - if you work through lunch you also get paid it, if you go over your 7 and a half hour day you are automatically docked an hour for lunch but the wonders in HR (me and my manager) give it back to you without questioning if you took more than 30 mins.

Under Ontario Law:

An employer is not required to provide any breaks under the ESA other than a 30-minute eating period for every five consecutive hours of work. However, if the employer does provide another type of a break, such as a coffee break, and the employee must remain at his or her workplace during the break, the employee must be paid at least the minimum wage for that time.


Thats why you are told to go take it..its tooo complicated if you dont!

It's a small thing, but I have never heard them called anything but coffee breaks here - at least in Regina that is what they are called. And, in every job I have ever had, we have been paid for them. But then I have always worked for lawyers and maybe its just a tradition. I do know that we are paid because in my last job we would sometimes go across the street to McDonalds and have coffee over there for a change. Then one of the partners told us that we couldn't go out any more because we were paid for coffee breaks and so we had to stay at the office!!