Workplace Debate: Sign-Out Rule for Breaks

• Author refuses to comply and risks being written up for insubordination.
• Author is a long-standing high-performing employee.
• Boss change led to stricter monitoring of employees’ whereabouts.

A man’s post about his employer’ new rule requiring staff to sign out when taking toilet breaks or going to lunch has sparked debate. He mentioned that he is thinking about going to HR about the problem and asked Redditors if this is the right course of action.

“My new boss wants us to sign out anytime we go to the bathroom or take lunch. I refuse to do so and have been threatened to be written up. What should I do?” The author wrote. In the next lines, he went into great length about the new rule and his reaction to it.

“So I’ve been at this company for 18 years now. I’m a high-performing senior member of my team. My boss just took another job, and my new boss is a hard ass when it comes to knowing where we are at all times. I’m almost 40 years old, and I’m not about to walk over to his cubicle, slide my dot to the left to signal I’m going to the bathroom. Maybe I could see that while taking lunch. But we have a set 30-minute lunch every day so it’s not really a thing in my opinion,”  he added.

“Since I refuse to sign out when I go to the bathroom, my boss has told me she would write me up for ‘insubordination’ or, in better terms, ‘failing to follow instructions’. I’m contemplating quitting, but I make way more than most in my engineering design field, and my benefits are good, not to mention I get 5 weeks of vacation per year. I’m tempted to go to HR if this can’t be resolved. What would you do?”  he continued on to say.

Also Read

Convenience Store Hangs on China’s 393-Foot Cliff

A Chinese convenience store has become an internet sensation due to its...