Restaurant cell phone policy for employees (free template)

A barista checks a text between drinks, then picks up a cup by the rim. A cook answers a call with a glove on. A guest waits at the register while the cashier finishes a message. Nobody meant any harm, and nobody had been told what the rule was.

Phones are also part of the job now: staff clock in on them, check the schedule, swap shifts and tick off tasks. So "no phones" doesn't work, and "use common sense" means something different to everyone. This post gives you a policy to adapt, the food safety and pay points behind it, and the labor-law limits on what a policy can say.

General information, not legal advice. Have your policy reviewed alongside your employee handbook, especially if you're in a state with its own privacy or recording laws.

What a phone policy has to do

Keep phones away from food and guests during service.
Allow the work uses: clocking in, schedules, tasks, the team chat.
Allow emergencies: a parent whose child's school calls needs to be reachable.
Protect guests' and coworkers' privacy: no photos or videos of guests, and no filming coworkers without their OK.
Stay clear of unpaid work: messages after hours that need an answer are work time.
Stay within labor law: it can't stop people talking about pay and working conditions.

The policy template

Adapt the bracketed parts. Keep it to one page and put it in your employee handbook.

[Café / restaurant name] — Staff phone policy

Why we have this policy. Phones carry germs to food, distract us from guests, and can put guests' and coworkers' privacy at risk. We also use phones for work, so this policy says when and how.

1. Where phones go during your shift

In the kitchen, at the bar and at the register, your phone stays in [your locker / the phone shelf in the back office / your pocket, on silent].
Phones are never set down on prep tables, cutting boards, the bar top or food shelves.
Smart watches: [allowed on silent / treated like phones].

2. When you can use your phone

On your breaks, in [the break area / outside the food areas].
For work tasks: clocking in and out, checking your schedule or tasks, and messages from your manager about the shift.
In an emergency. If you're expecting an important call (a sick child, a family emergency), tell the manager at the start of the shift so you can step out when it comes.

3. Clean hands after touching your phone

If you touch your phone during your shift, wash your hands before you go back to food, clean dishes or single-use items.

4. Guests come first

No phone use in front of guests at the register, the bar or the tables, except to take an order or payment on a work device.

5. Photos, videos and recordings

Don't photograph or film guests, their orders or their payment details.
Don't post photos or videos of coworkers without their OK.
Photos for work (a delivery problem, a broken machine, a task in the app) are fine.

6. Messages outside your shift

Managers will only message you outside your shift about scheduling or urgent issues.
You don't have to answer work messages when you're off the clock, except to confirm a shift change. If you're asked to do work by phone off the clock, you'll be paid for that time.

7. Driving

If you drive for us, don't use your phone while driving.

8. What this policy doesn't limit

Nothing in this policy stops you from talking with coworkers or others about your pay, hours or working conditions, on your own time and devices.

9. If you don't follow it

First time: a reminder. After that, our normal coaching and write-up steps apply.

I have read and understand this policy.

Name: ………………………… Signature: ………………………… Date: ……………

The reasons behind each section

Phones and clean hands

The FDA Food Code, which most state and local health departments adopt in some form, doesn't mention phones by name. It does list when food employees must wash their hands, including "After engaging in other activities that contaminate the hands" (§2-301.14(I)), and "During FOOD preparation, as often as necessary to remove soil and contamination and to prevent cross contamination when changing tasks" (§2-301.14(F)). A phone that's been in a pocket, a car and a restroom is that kind of activity, which is why section 3 of the template asks for a handwash, not a quick wipe. It also says employees may eat and drink only in designated areas (§2-401.11(A)); a break area for phones and snacks covers both.

Quotes are from the FDA Food Code 2022; the FDA has since published a 2026 edition, and these sections read the same there. For the handwashing steps, see our handwashing procedure.

Phones as work tools

If staff clock in, see the schedule and do checklists on their own phones, the policy has to say so. Otherwise a strict "phones in the locker" rule collides with the clock-in button. Two common set-ups:

Phones allowed for work tasks, in a pocket on silent (most cafés).
Phones in lockers, with a shared tablet or kiosk for clock-in and tasks (kitchens that want phones fully out of the food areas).

Pick one and write it down.

After-hours messages are work time

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, "Work not requested but suffered or permitted is work time" (29 CFR 785.11), and that applies to work done away from the job site, "or even at home" (29 CFR 785.12). A cashier who spends twenty minutes at night answering a manager's questions about the till has done twenty minutes of work.

The rule also puts the duty on management: it "cannot sit back and accept the benefits without compensating for them," and "The mere promulgation of a rule against such work is not enough" (29 CFR 785.13). So section 6 of the template sets the limit for managers, not just staff. Write the off-hours rule into your manager training too, and record and pay any real work done off the clock.

What a policy can't ban

The National Labor Relations Act protects employees who act together about work issues. The NLRB lists examples that include "talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions" and "openly talking about your pay and benefits" (NLRB, concerted activity). Among the things employers can't do, it lists to "Promulgate, maintain, or enforce work rules that reasonably tend to inhibit employees from exercising their rights under the Act" (NLRB, interfering with employee rights).

So a policy can say "phones in the locker during the shift", but shouldn't say "never discuss your pay" or "never post anything about work online." Section 8 of the template says so out loud. Rules on photographing guests and protecting payment details are about guests' privacy and card security, which is a different matter; see our card data security post (coming Nov 14).

Rolling it out

Decide your set-up (phones in pocket on silent, or lockers plus a shared device) and fix the parts of the template that depend on it.
Give phones a home. A shelf with a charger in the back office makes "put it away" an easy ask.
Explain it in a pre-shift huddle, with the reasons. Our pre-shift huddle agenda (coming Nov 3) has a slot for it.
Get a signature from everyone, and from every new hire on their first day.
Model it. The policy fails the day a manager texts on the line.
Coach, don't ambush. A reminder first; a documented coaching conversation if it keeps happening.

Your phone policy checklist

[ ] Set-up chosen: phones in pocket for work tasks, or lockers plus a shared device
[ ] Phone zones and break area named
[ ] Handwashing after touching a phone written in, and covered in training
[ ] Emergency and expected-call rule written in
[ ] No photos or videos of guests or payment details
[ ] After-hours message limits for managers, and pay for off-the-clock work
[ ] The "what this doesn't limit" section kept
[ ] Signed by every current employee and every new hire

Where Mays fits

The policy where staff can read it. Put it in a Knowledge Base folder shared with everyone, so it's in the Knowledge tab of the app. See Your knowledge base.
A signature on file. Build a short custom form under Tasks → Types with an Instructions block ("I have read the phone policy"), a Signature field and a Date / time field. Put it on an onboarding checklist with the Custom frequency, and start it for each new hire from Tasks → Tasks → Create Task → From Template. The signed form stays with the completed task. See Building custom forms and Scheduling and assigning checklists.
Phones out of the kitchen, clock-in still works. Set Mobile punching to Kiosk only and staff clock in on a shared tablet with a 4-digit PIN; they can still take breaks and clock out on their phones. See Punch verification and Shared kiosk devices.
Fewer buzzing pockets. Each person chooses which notifications reach their phone under Profile → Notifications, and can mute a busy chat for up to a week. See Notifications.

What Mays doesn't do: there are no quiet hours for the team, so the app won't hold a manager's message until someone's next shift, and Mays doesn't track or pay time spent on messages off the clock. Task Data exports leave signatures out, so look up a signed acknowledgment on the completed task itself.

A rule people can follow

Say where phones go, when they come out, and that hands get washed after. Say what managers won't send after hours, and pay for what they do. Leave people free to talk about their pay. A one-page policy everyone has signed makes the reminder on the line a simple one.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your kiosk, policies and onboarding checklist with you.