Help with staff canteen...

Author
Discussion

freecar

Original Poster:

4,249 posts

186 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Hi all,

Mods, I'm not really sure where to place this, it is kind of a legal question hence being here, but I don't know if anywhere else would be more appropriate?

My beautiful fiancee has run into a strange issue at work.

She works for a big company which has a staff canteen that is not optional! By this I mean that she has money deducted from her salary (no opt-out) to pay for a canteen that serves them their lunch.

She has a severe nut allergy that requires the carrying of an epipen to avoid anaphylaxis. The problem is that the canteen do not label any of their food with allergy information and the staff have been outright rude and unhelpful and are insisting that she has to ask the staff if any dishes contain nuts. This wouldn't be the biggest problem were it not for the fact that for the most part the canteen is self service where pre-prepared dishes are there for people to take so there wouldn't exactly be a member of staff nearby to offer advice. There is also the issue of cross contamination, as the food is all kept together and the chances of cross contamination is high (a vegetarian staff member wasn't pleased when she witnessed her food being prepared on the same chopping board that had just had cooked meat carved on it) as the staff seem to have a very laid back attitude towards keeping food separated in either prep or serving.

What is her recourse here? Do staff canteens of this type have any legal obligation towards allergy information (she isn't the only staff member with this problem) and taking steps to provide protection from cross contamination? Furthermore who is actually responsible? Her employer pay an outside contractor to provide catering services, is the canteen to be considered solely under their responsibility or does her employer have ultimate responsibility? It's all a bit confusing and more than a little infuriating!

Any advice?

Magic919

14,126 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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I'd have thought it would be worth getting some proper advice, but she might be considered disabled. That would cause the employer to take action to accomodate.

bitchstewie

50,812 posts

209 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Can't offer anything too useful other than if it's a large company I'd suggest start with their H&S folks.

Vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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A thread for Breadvan72 as I believe this maybe an area that he has deep knowledge in.

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Vaud said:
A thread for Breadvan72 as I believe this maybe an area that he has deep knowledge in.
Might need to drop him an email as he doesn't come in here very often any more, unfortunately.

Or chuck the thread in employment matters?

Vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
quotequote all
Roo said:
Might need to drop him an email as he doesn't come in here very often any more, unfortunately.

Or chuck the thread in employment matters?
That is probably the best approach. It's more suited to that forum at this stage.

steveball

65 posts

185 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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In a not to dissimilar situation - I have ADHD and the colourings in the canteen food send me nuts. My solution is just eat chips and a piece of fruit.

There again mine isn't life threatening, only a job risk as if I have anything then I become a bit of a handful.

Speak to Health and Safety or HR if you want a proper solution though.

evilmunkey

1,377 posts

158 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
quotequote all
I have a similar allergy and also with tomatoes and mushrooms and carry an eppipen too. also once worked in an environment where we had money deducted for the use of the canteen. i took it up with my immediate manager at the time who then took it up with hr and payroll. They accepted i was being put in a potentially life threatening situation , i provided a note from my g.p. to back this up and told them i only feel really safe with food i bring in from home. result was they stopped deducting from my wage as they accepted i was not going to risk myself with food from unknown origin and they didnt fancy being sued for putting me at risk. any decent company should accept this in my opinion. Just a matter of approaching the proper folk the right way.

bga

8,134 posts

250 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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One of my team has a similar nut allergy so I asked her to pull some info together for me a while back.

While we don't serve food in our office we do have a duty of care to make our staff aware and set guidelines. If we did serve food then EU Reg 1169 would require us to state if any allergens (from a list of 10 or so) were in the food.

AMG01

420 posts

141 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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bga said:
One of my team has a similar nut allergy so I asked her to pull some info together for me a while back.

While we don't serve food in our office we do have a duty of care to make our staff aware and set guidelines. If we did serve food then EU Reg 1169 would require us to state if any allergens (from a list of 10 or so) were in the food.
This is correct, it's the law, suggest she explains that to the head of catering, who I would assume is aware of this, this explains it in more detail. https://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/regulation/fir...

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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I am not an expert, but my ex is a chef who has her own restaurant, and I remember her going nuts because it was a breach of HSE regulations to use the same board (or knife) to prepare vegetables and meat, and there being rules about how these were placed in the fridge, (meat had to be lowest?), sounds to me like they may actually be in breach of HSE rules.

RobinOakapple

2,802 posts

111 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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AMG01 said:
bga said:
One of my team has a similar nut allergy so I asked her to pull some info together for me a while back.

While we don't serve food in our office we do have a duty of care to make our staff aware and set guidelines. If we did serve food then EU Reg 1169 would require us to state if any allergens (from a list of 10 or so) were in the food.
This is correct, it's the law, suggest she explains that to the head of catering, who I would assume is aware of this, this explains it in more detail. https://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/regulation/fir...
All the canteen has to do is to say that all of the food may contain the allergens.

anothernameitist

1,500 posts

134 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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I'd say have a word with HR, as itys staff being rude.

However does the employer subcontract this service out to a 3rd party supplier, then it will be a procurement issue.

At the end of the day the equality act is your friend, but only as an act. Reasonable adjustment in this case would be not to have a deduction due to intollerances.


Hope you get a positive result

brman

1,233 posts

108 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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RobinOakapple said:
All the canteen has to do is to say that all of the food may contain the allergens.
I think that might actually help. All food is unsafe for her so no justification in charging for the service?
For a large company I would have thought HR would sort that out pdq.

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Compulsory deduction from wages? Might be an unlawful deduction from wages claim? - as others have said, Breadvan 72 might be your best port of call.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Sounds a bit of a monopoly with the deducted salary for lunch!! What a joke!!

Sounds like a cause for complaint - Meat / Veg preperation areas need to be kept separate and allergy information should be available.

Devil2575

13,400 posts

187 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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xjay1337 said:
Sounds a bit of a monopoly with the deducted salary for lunch!! What a joke!!

Sounds like a cause for complaint - Meat / Veg preperation areas need to be kept separate and allergy information should be available.
I was thinking this. Sounds like a bit of a piss take to be honest.

edc

9,231 posts

250 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
quotequote all
If employees have a complaint to make and no perceived route to follow, then they could raise a grievance. If there is enough volume then you would expect somebody to address the issue.

Alternatively, is there a works council or a suggestion box?

With regards the specific personal situation, what are you trying to achieve? You could raise your concern in writing citing potential health and safety grounds, the need for risk assessments for those with allergy conditions.

elanfan

5,516 posts

226 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Last paragraph above is spot on. It is an established principle that an employer must make reasonable adjustments in work practises to take account of an employees health. The cheaper option would be to allow you to be able to opt out.

Edited by elanfan on Friday 12th February 14:11

Foliage

3,861 posts

121 months