Do employee bathrooms have to have cellphone signal?

[stealth2]

Install an emergency call button in the bathroom.

 

[cbg]

Install an emergency call button in the bathroom.

^^^ This. We've just finished installing several at key points in our office.

 

[stealth2]

^^^ This. We've just finished installing several at key points in our office.

I was thinking something like what they put in hospital restrooms (like in the rooms?) - with a string to pull that can be reached if someone falls/can't get up/reach a button... With buttons in strategic places throughout the workspace.

 

[quincy]

That would require a 2X’s larger restroom and further loss of productivity. I believe the issue is that management is concerned that employees will spend too much time in the restroom playing on their phones if cell service is available and not doing their jobs. I once had a manager who positioned his office to keep track of the use of the restrooms and the time clock before cell phones.

Most restrooms are large enough for two people. Not much privacy, maybe, but if someone is that concerned about safety in a restroom, privacy is probably not their major issue.

I don’t doubt that the employer has concerns about employees playing on their cell phones instead of working. I am trying to figure out from where the employee concern originates.

A call button is a good idea if the concern is a legitimate one. I just am not seeing a “medical emergency” as being the real reason for the employees to want cell service in the restroom.

 

[cbg]

I was thinking something like what they put in hospital restrooms (like in the rooms?) - with a string to pull that can be reached if someone falls/can't get up/reach a button... With buttons in strategic places throughout the workspace.

As you know, I work for a major research university and there's a lot of controversy right now for a number of reasons; some of them obvious and others not. We moved to new office space a few months ago. In our old space we had secure doors and someone behind a counter who could press a call button that summoned the university police in case of problems. In our new space we still have the secure doors but we don't have that protected counter; someone has to physically go to the door when a doorbell rings. We've installed the call buttons in offices near the doors, and also one by the desk where my team works, and we've been told they're for medical emergencies as well as any disturbed callers.

 

[Taxing Matters]

For private businesses the management may decide what is allowed on the business premises and what activities are done there. While they do need to provide restroom access they don't have to have it designed to accept cell phone, wi-fi, or satellite communications. For most of my life there were no smart phones and we got along pretty well at home and at work without the need to have a phone in our hands all day. The employer is not obligated to provide the rest room phone access, particularly if the employer is not the owner of that space. Most offices today are leased and it is the landlord that is responsible for maintaining the building and common areas like restrooms. The employees need to understand that there are also significant privacy issues in allowing that access. Indeed, a smart employer today would prohibit even taking the phone to the restroom. There really is little need to have one there.

If the employees are that fearful of going to the bathroom without cell phone access and the employer or landlord won't provide it I see two options. The first is to form a union and collectively bargain with the employer over the matter. Depending on the make up of the workforce there that may or may not be a viable thing to do. It also carries risk that the employer would permanently replace you, effectively terminating the employee.

The other option is, of course, to quit and find a new job where they will the cell phone acess they want.

They may want to meet with a labor law attorney to find out the details of what they can do and what the employer may do in response before taking any action, particularly if they like the job they have other than this one issue.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

It may help to ask yourselves “what would Musk do”?

 

[Bali Hai Again]

It may help to ask yourselves “what would Musk do”?

Meaning Elon.

 

[quincy]

It may help to ask yourselves “what would Musk do”?

Take a chainsaw to the bathroom or fire the employees, to eliminate all sources of “waste” in the building?

 

[Mark_A]

I think there should be a law, punishable by death, for any employer who installs (or leases office space) a toilet that lacks sufficient flushing power, or if any individual stall ever runs out of toilet paper.

 

[quincy]

I think there should be a law, punishable by death, for any employer who installs (or leases office space) a toilet that lacks sufficient flushing power, or if any individual stall ever runs out of toilet paper.

This thread is about cell service in restrooms.

 

[Mark_A]

This thread is about cell service in restrooms.

My mistake, I thought this thread was about chainsaws.

 

[stealth2]

I think there should be a law, punishable by death, for any employer who installs (or leases office space) a toilet that lacks sufficient flushing power, or if any individual stall ever runs out of toilet paper.

Donold?

 

[quincy]

Donold?

There probably is an executive order sitting on his desk just waiting to be signed.