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I would like to know if there is an official definition as to when or what constitutes the start of a 15 minute break in the province of British Columbia, Canada?

If no official definition of when a coffee break actually starts, is there a general rules that most Canadian provinces would follow?

I have a friend who works in a mall and some employees line up at the food court concessions for food or coffee. Does their break start at the moment they are off the floor and in the line up or when they are sitting down having their coffee. Breaks tend to be rather long at times (25 minutes or more, in lieu of simply 15 minutes) for some individuals, especially when the line ups are long.

If unanswerable how would the above scenario be viewed when taking a 30 minute lunch break which is mandated by the government.

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    VTC - IANAL - according the BC labour website: Employers are not required to provide coffee breaks. - which means any Coffee Break would be a matter of Company Policy, which we cannot answer.
    – TheDemonLord
    Commented Jun 11 at 4:17
  • Is there some sort of requirement to line up at the food court on your break?
    – Gregory Currie
    Commented Jun 11 at 4:17
  • @TheDemonLord Understood , but there has to be some general guidelines in order to stop abuses.
    – Ken Graham
    Commented Jun 11 at 4:19
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    @KenGraham - there may be general guidelines, but these will be company policy if it is not mandated in legislation.
    – TheDemonLord
    Commented Jun 11 at 4:30
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    In pretty much every work environment I have seen a break starts when you stop working and it ends when you resume working. What happens during the break is up to the employee and no concern of the employer. During a "lunch break" you can go can eat, go for a walk,, run errands, surf youtube, take a nap, etc. To the employer its all the same as long as the employee is back on the clock on time.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jun 11 at 12:58

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From https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/hours#

Employers are not required to provide coffee breaks.

Therefore, any conditions around "coffee" breaks, including what exactly constitutes a break, would be part of a companies policies, or union agreement.

It's somewhat unlikely a company will define exactly when a break starts. Most likely, the employee gets some grace period to travel to or from the breakroom, but other than that, it's likely every minute not spent working is deemed part of the break. How diligently this is enforced probably depends on a range of factors.

You should consult your union if you have questions.

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    Right, it is a break "from working", not a break "to get coffee" or something. It doesn't have success criteria. The failure criterion is being away from your work "for too long".
    – Happy Idiot
    Commented Jun 11 at 15:05

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