I was employed by Manpower staffing agency and had an assignment with Cisco Systems in San Jose. We were required to be to work 15 minutes before our shift without pay. The 15 minutes was used to get our laptops which we use for work and to get them started up and all the applications opened needed for the day of work. We were not able to claim this as time worked even though we were required to be there and were using the time to get computer started up. It seems to me that since this time used was for work related activities that we should have been paid for it. If we were on a call and we had to work over time we were not paid for any time worked over 8 hours unless it was over 10 minutes past our quitting time.

Another complaint is that we were not permitted to use the restroom if not on one of our scheduled breaks. We would have to ask permission in a team online chat that all could see. At times we were declined permission to use the restroom. This practice is not only degrading to have to ask permission, but has caused me to have bladder issues rescently.

It seems that this organization believes they can require extra time worked without pay and deny basic rights that people should have when they need to relieve themselves.