Nursery worker told she HAS to eat with children

Sambucus_Nigra

azza21 wrote: »

Yes it is. They have a chef who cooks the meals on site.

Could the staff have a separate menu or choice so that they get adults food and not [what is essentially] baby food? Does anyone else mind this?

marybelle01

Is this for real? You want to know the EU law outlawing your girlfriend having to eat with her charges? I think the EU has better things to do than consider her dietary foibles.

Perhaps if someone had sat with her and set a good example at the age of 4, then she wouldn't be so picky about her food. Macaroni cheese is a reasonable foodstuff - and a great deal better than many children get on a daily basis. And if it isn't enough - she can have her own lunch as well.

WhiteHorse

What if the staff member is diabetic, or has some food intolerance or allergy? or is, say, a Muslim? Will they be sacked?

It might reasonable to expect staff to eat with the children, in order to ensure adequate supervision, but not to try and force staff to eat what they eat.

Start gathering evidence for the forthcoming lawsuit.

azza21

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Could the staff have a separate menu or choice so that they get adults food and not [what is essentially] baby food? Does anyone else mind this?

As from what i understand some of the girls are unhappy but i'm not sure to what extent.

As i said the boss is quite and intimidating figure, she knows best.

I know some people on here will say whats wrong with eating macaroni cheese and so on but you cannot be told you HAVE to eat something you don't want too. Again she has her own lunch of what she likes to eat.

cte1111

Do they get paid for the meal times? If so, then I would have thought that the managers can decide what the staff do during this time, but not actually force them to eat something they don't want.

I think your girlfriend needs to go and see her manager and explain the problem to her. Perhaps she could explain that she doesn't like to eat in front of other people, this isn't an uncommon problem, my husband used to have a problem with public eating.

azza21

marybelle01 wrote: »

Is this for real? You want to know the EU law outlawing your girlfriend having to eat with her charges? I think the EU has better things to do than consider her dietary foibles.

Perhaps if someone had sat with her and set a good example at the age of 4, then she wouldn't be so picky about her food. Macaroni cheese is a reasonable foodstuff - and a great deal better than many children get on a daily basis. And if it isn't enough - she can have her own lunch as well.

I would like to know if my girlfriend has to eat something she doesn't want to eat and where she stands. Not everybody likes certain foods. I don't think anyone should be told they have to force food that they don't want down there throat.

As i have said she does bring her own lunch in to eat what she enjoys eating.

paddedjohn

If she takes her own lunch then she can eat it on her break/dinner-time, if she is entitled to one

faerie~spangles

I don't believe an employer can tell you what to eat:eek:

As far as eating with the children surely that's no big deal unless it impinges on her break times.

sammyroser

First why does she have to eat with this children? Is it to encourage them to eat the food?

Does she get a separate break time from this?

If the answer is yes to both questions can she not just pretend to eat the food with the children and then eat her own food in her break time?

azza21

sammyroser wrote: »

First why does she have to eat with this children? Is it to encourage them to eat the food?

Does she get a separate break time from this?

If the answer is yes to both questions can she not just pretend to eat the food with the children and then eat her own food in her break time?

Yes to encourage them to eat the food. She was told in no uncertain terms she had to eat what her children had to eat, be it macaroni cheese, spaghetti anything. She has to eat it with them and yes she brings her own pack lunch in and has a seperate lunch break. She is not allowed to eat her lunch with the children, has to be what they eat.

Let me just clarify my girlfriend doesn't have a problem pretending to eat the food, she used to do this, has done it for the last 6 months. Never been an issue, now however she has been told she has to eat the food they eat and is not allowed to pretend to eat it.