Today I worked from 10 am til 10 pm , a 12 hour shift, without a lunch break. I ask my Manager for a lunch break but his reply was "we are understaffed and have nobody to cover for you if you take a break, therefore I was stuck there all day. I know that WV state law requires an employer to allow a break if you work over 6 hours. My question is what can be done about my unfair treatment..

You are correct!

West Virginia labor code (Chapter 21-3-10(a)) does provide for meal breaks of 20 minutes where an employee has worked 6 consecutive hours or more. If you wish to report this violation, you should contact West Viriginia Division of Labor (Contact (http://www.labor.state.wv.us/wage/contacts.html) Info).

I don't disagree with robb71 that is the legal requirement.

However, I must say that I have a little different take on the situation. It sounds like this was a situation that your employer saw as an emergency and he really couldn't spare you for a meal break. If this is not a normal occurrence, in fact, occurs very rarely, and you are getting paid for all the time you work, honestly, I'd let it go and chalk it up to "teamwork".

Frankly, the DOL has a lot more important claims, such as employees who never got paid at all, or have never gotten paid for overtime, to spend their time on. If they at all prioritize the claims by importance or urgency, yours is going to go WAY at the bottom of the list.

This has not only been happening to me. Many other employees brought this up at an employee meeting with the corporate manager today. He assures us that this will never happen again.

Thanks for the Information...

This has not only been happening to me. Many other employees brought this up at an employee meeting with the corporate manager today. He assures us that this will never happen again.

Thanks for the Information... Great! I trust since the corporate manager said today, that it would never happen again, it doesn't! Let us know if it does.