Am I being unreasonable if I expect my two assistants to not consistently go on break at the same time as each other each day? I don’t want to be the bad guy policing lunch breaks but I thought that would be common sense.

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Nope but if you make a fuss you will be the bad guy.

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Could be worse, you could not have assistants. If you’re upset that you have to work during their lunch, there may be a problem. As a solo attorney, I do all of the work. You can live without an assistant for an hour and a half each day (this is if you give 2 15 min breaks and an hour lunch. If you give a 30 min lunch ... well...)

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Most small shops I see hire their assistants on hourly, not a salary.

We *could* live without an assistant for an hour, but why should we if we hired them and put in the effort to train and pay them? I don’t think it’s asking a lot of them to stagger their breaks. What I probably could have pointed out earlier is that I work from home 3 days a week (I’m 6 mo. pregnant and trying to avoid exposure to people) so when they take breaks together there is literally nobody there to answer phones. We also have a large number of foreign language clients, and our assistants can speak to them while I can’t. Maybe I’m crazy but I don’t think it’s asking a lot for them as adults and paid employees to simply wait a half hour until the other one comes back. That’s how it worked at other small firms.

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Yea, a half hour instead of an hour, all you need to do is let your clients there is no one to answer the phones at that time. Your business won’t die because you were unavailable for a half hour.

They also tend to disappear for over an hour when they go.

Our firm has the phones go directly to voicemail for an hour during lunch breaks each day. This might help if you're concerned about having to perform administrative tasks during that hour. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect both assistants back after an hour and enforcing that time. However, you want a staff that's friendly and if that means they take lunch together, then I say let them do that.

Why don't get an answering service in English and Spanish 24/7 for $481 per month? Keep them happy. And you concentrate on the legal part without worry of missing a call or a possible client?

It’s also important to note that they have done this when I specifically say not to... for example, I am in a deposition or mediation all morning and not available to answer phones

Seems like you came here to try and get us to say that to you

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It is reasonable to expect them to stagger. We do.

They should stagger if taking calls for the firm’s main line is part of their function. (Not 100% clear if they’re handling the firm’s line or just your personal line.) When I did reception and secretarial temp work, long before law school, it was fairly standard for companies to ask reception to maintain coverage during business hours.

Yes the phones are a big part of their jobs, particularly the assistants who can translate and speak a second language. I get that in a small firm attorneys answer the phone as well (which I don’t mind doing and do when I need to). My main irritation is when I literally cannot answer because I am in a hearing/deposition/etc. We have a voicemail but we try to avoid that.

Stop worrying about it and act like a boss. Its your business. Run it like one

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