Comments on: Lunch, Break, and Hour Laws You Should Know

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:25:03 +0000

I work at the front desk of a hotel in Florida during the overnight shift. Recently I was told that I am required to take an unpaid break due to “auditing” reasons. I am not allowed to leave the premises during this break and have been asked to bring the company cell phone or a radio with me in case the bellman needs me, as there is no other front desk agent, nor a manager available. They have also “suggested” I sit in the office behind the desk so that I am not far away. If I have to be ready to return to the desk for anything, does that count as a break?

Also, we have monthly front desk meetings, as well as quarterly property meetings that I have been told are mandatory even though they take place during the day and often between shifts (meaning I’ve worked until 7:30 in the morning, have to come to a meeting for two hours in the afternoon, and then return at 11 that night). I am getting paid for these meetings, but would I be fair in asking to be exempt from these meetings?

They said that I didn’t have to take the entire 30 minutes at once. After reading this blog I have already concluded that if the break is less than 30 consecutive minutes it does not constitute a meal break, so thank you for that. Any information you could share would be very much appreciated.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:58:24 +0000

Andrew, thank you for your previous input on the Virginia job lunch training being pushed on employees. At this point, the employer has gone as far as putting participation in these supposedly not mandetory lunchtime sessions, on annual review as action items. What I really cannot understand is if the training is about business, then why they won’t conduct it during business hours, not people’s lunch hour. To me it just has a strange smell to it. Indeed it’s a happy thing we even have a job these days, but that doesn’t take away from issues that affect us.

By: Gus

Gus — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:56:02 +0000

Hello, I was wondering how much time is required for lunch in schools. Also are the teachers aloud to keep the kids in there classroom without lunch during there lunch break. Thanks Gus

By: Part-time working smoker.

Part-time working smoker. — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:31:09 +0000

Hey i work at your average clothing store and i smoke. i was told by people that every 3 hours of consequeatively working on your feet without getting to sit down.your supposed to get a 5 minute break but my boss is very adament that im wrong i dont want to get fired but i kinda feel like she should cut me a small break. anyways i just kinda wanted to know what the real deal is…. thanks.

chelle

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:23:51 +0000

I work at a local McDonalds in Kentucky. They usually scheduale me for 3 hour shifts but they always end up sending me home because their labor times are high. I’ve heard from several people that they still have to pay me for the 3 hours. I can’t find that statement anywhere and it would be great if you can send me to a site that explains it or just tell me about it.

By: Hospedagem

Hospedagem — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:09:40 +0000

I am curious about the requirements I have to meet to be in accordance with state law. Quite a bit of my employees work a simple four hour shift.

By: michael

michael — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:14:41 +0000

i live in ga see if youve heard of this before.in 2001 where i worked at work was slow and we were being laied off every other week.they caught 2 bosses changing the ssn and address on the claim forms.just so happens they had 2 witneses and was going to do nothing so i called the ga dept. of labor.when it was all over they fixed it so they were sent email and that was that..a few years later the 2 lost there jobs for something else.by jan. of 2008 they brought in 2 new supervisors the other 2 retired and it got so bad when we went in at 7 in the mornning we never knew what time we were going home they might let us eat somthing around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.some nights we were in there unitil 10 at night. the last 7 mouths are so were hell i finley realized they were trying to run off as many as they could. it got to the point to where they wouldnt even let us go to the bathroom.there was many times where i started to go in the garbage can.finley one day i shit all over myself befor i could get to the bathroom which the bosses thought was funny and off course all they wanted to know was icoming back because i went home after that sick.i didnt come back until the next day.the day i was gone the person tacking my place had problems with the computer and screwed somthing up. over a mouth later they fired him for no reason and tried to put me on finals for something that happened when i wasnt there.i said no they werent going to put me on finals they backed down but still wrote me up.i worked at this place for 19 yrs and 11 mo. i wanted to walk out of there but if i did i couldnt draw because i caled the dept of labor and they said they could do what ever they want. now i have a ? who done this to people because it didnt use to be like this.most people dont even know the laws.treating people that work for you like that is wrong dont let them eat go to the bathroom get a drink of water . this is unamerican animals are treated better than that in most cases.

By: sugar puff

sugar puff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:35:20 +0000

Hmm, my employer allows me to get short breaks but he is not paying for them. I did not know he had to do that. Seems pretty fair though. I’m not even taking that many breaks, just two or three per day (8 hour working day). Anyway, thx for the article and I’ll be looking for more details on this matter. Maybe I’ll get some extra cash..Yeeey!

By: videolar

videolar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:25:46 +0000

thanks for the information! I am in Minnesota so a lot of these laws work to my benefit!

By: Gerard Salton

Gerard Salton — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:38:54 +0000

I cannot believe how lazy Americans are wanting long breaks every few hours. I own an IT company in Turkey which is offshored to another company in Eastern Europe in which employees stay from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00pm non stop. They give them a choice, if they don’t like it, they can go look for work elsewhere . its good for my profit, I don’t mind And they employees get paid for every hour that they do, except that there is no minimum wage to worry about so my profit is maximised to the top.