Have you had an employee take an unusual amount of time on toilet breaks? We explain your employer rights to toilet break restrictions in your workplace.
It’s not uncommon to hear the tapping out of a text or the sound of a video on low volume coming from a toilet cubical.
One of the less discussed areas of business life is employee use of your toilet facilities. This may seem like an unimportant issue, but you should be aware of your employees’ rights.
Your employees’ toilet break rights
Your staff may wonder, ‘Can my employer stop me going to the toilet?’ No, you can’t.
However, they’ll likely need to use a toilet at least once during some part of the working day. And will need the appropriate facilities, and allowances, to do so.
From your perspective, it can be frustrating if staff members are spending frequent and significant amounts of time away from their desks, workstation, or serving customers to visit the bathroom.
As such, you might want to think about imposing restrictions on toilet break allowances. However, you should always consider taking this approach with caution.
What is the law on toilet breaks at work?
There’s no law that specifies the number of bathroom breaks you must allow.
The Employment Relations Act 2000 expects both employers and employees to act in good faith. This means staff should not abuse bathroom access, and employers cannot restrict necessary use.
There is a fundamental legal workplace right in New Zealand for employees to access drinking water and use the toilet facilities as needed. Including outside of scheduled meal or rest breaks.
Coverage: If the employee works in a client-facing industry (such as a call centre), or on a production line, which requires constant supervision, they may be required to wait for a colleague to replace them before leaving their position.
Operationally: An employee is expected to be able to manage their time responsibly and not use bathroom breaks as a strategy to avoid work or leave critical tasks unattended.
Excess time: If breaks are unusually frequent or lengthy, an employer can address the behaviour through private conversations or welfare process to see if there is an underlying health issue.
Health & Safety issues with toilet breaks
Access to the toilet may affect an employee's physical or mental health. Regular toilet trips can be the result of a pre-existing health issue they may be embarrassed to disclose. Implementing restrictions on toilet trips can also cause additional problems.
Not being able to go when a staff member needs to, can cause a range of health issues as well as Health & Safety concerns. These include:
- Digestive issues.
- Urinary tract problems.
- Kidney infections. These can develop into serious health conditions.
Also, employees on certain medication may need to visit the toilet on a more frequent basis. This can also be the case if they’re working on construction sites or in cold stores. Also, prostate problems in men may mean they may need to urinate more frequently.
*Female employees may need to visit the bathroom more frequently: *
- During pregnancy.
- During menopause.
In the workplace, it’s vital to avoid any form of disciplinary action over protected characteristics and discrimination. Such as things relating to the person’s gender.
So, you should look to offer support for your employees depending on their various health requirements.
How many toilet breaks are you allowed at work?
Being able to access a toilet is considered a basic workplace right and a health and safety matter. If you wish to address prolonged and regular bathroom breaks with employees, the first port of call would be to raise this with the individual employee and invite them to explain their side of the story.
It may be they’re struggling due to an illness, medical condition or disability they have been reluctant or embarrassed to discuss. Meaning you may need to consider making adjustments to help them in their workday.
You should remember there may be a number of reasons why an employee is needing the toilet more regularly. So, a false assumption could lead to a personal grievance or complaints of discrimination.
If they’re unable to provide an explanation, despite the opportunity to do so, it may discourage them from continuing with this behaviour if you tell them you’re monitoring the situation.
Toilet breaks at work when pregnant
It’s important to remember pregnant women often need to use the toilet more. Don’t penalise them as a result of this, including before and after parental / maternity leave.
Instead, you should consider ways in which you can assist pregnant employees in this situation, such as moving them closer to business facilities if they prefer.
Failing to change, or at the very least offer to change their working conditions to better accommodate a pregnant employee could leave your company open to costly discrimination claims.
Identifying where many toilet breaks at work are an excuse to procrastinate
It’s increasingly common that professionals are spending more time than necessary in the bathroom due to the use of electronic devices. This could be considered a form of time theft. Like taking an extra 10 minutes on a lunch break each day.
Employees can use the time away from the direct supervision of their manager to make personal calls, browse the internet, play video games or watch streaming videos.
To counter this, you could consider banning taking phones or tablets to the toilet or imposing an overall prohibition of their use during working hours.
Toilet breaks, employee wellbeing and morale
You can restrict breaks if you want to, but should you? Probably not. You should keep in mind employees may not react well to having toilet restrictions imposed on them.
If it’s noted they’re spending prolonged periods away from their desks to visit the bathroom but are still getting all of their work done to the required standard, it may not be necessary to raise this issue with them.
Poor workforce morale can have a significant effect on a company, potentially leading to high levels of employee turnover.
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This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute as business or legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. It does not take into consideration your specific business, industry or circumstances. You should seek legal or other professional advice regarding matters as they relate to you or your business. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Peninsula Group disclaim all liability for any errors or omissions contained in this information or any failure to update or correct this information. It is your responsibility to assess and verify the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of the information in this article.