I work for a major fast food franchise. The location I am employeed at is open 24hours a day, and I myself work exclusively on the overnight shift (10PM-7AM). Due to a number of factors the overnight shift runs with a bare minimum skeleton crew of 2 people; each of which are in charge of approximately half of the duties required to serve our customers, and neither of which can efficiently handle the other's duties in addition to their own, should, for whatever reason the other be unavailable at any given time.

This means that at no point durring the night is it possible for either employee to 'go on break' as service to our clients would slow to a level which our employer would find unacceptable. While it is true that we do usually have extended periods of time (ranging from 15 minutes to as long as 3 hours on rare ocasions) durring the overnight shift in which we have no customers, that could be, and often are, used to allow us to sit down and take a short break from our work, should a customer choose to show up in the middle of one, we are expected to serve them.

In addition to this, the company policy as comunicated to myself and my coworkers is very explicit that once the closing shift has left the building, the doors are to remain locked at all times baring an emergency, no one is allowed to enter or exit the building, both for our personal safety, and to reduce financial risk to the company. In the event that we took a break, it would not be possible for us to leave the premises.

It was comunicated to myself and my co-workers when our store originally switched to being open 24 hours that the overnight shift likely wouldn't be able to take normal 30 minute breaks like other shifts, but that it wouldn't be a problem to just sit down for a bit or have a bite to eat whenever we got a moment; as long as there were no customers at the time.

None of our overnight workers punch out for a 30 minute break at any point durring the night, as we simply don't get an actual period we can define as a 'break' at any point.

As a result of limitations on how our computer system divides up time punches by payroll date, overnight employees punch in on one payroll date, but punch out on another payroll date. This makes it nessisary for the adminstrative assistant at our store to correct the computer's time punches by adding a punch to the first payroll day, and deleting the extraneous punch on the second day. Originally our shift was paid for exactly the number of hours we were at work, but aproximately 1 year ago they started subtracting a 30 minute 'break' from our paychecks.

When confronted about this, the response we recieved from upper management was that massachusettes law, and company policy requires that any employee working more than 5 hours is required to take a 30 minute unpaid break. Further they stated that since we have at least 30 minutes durring the overnight shift to sit down and get away from our work, that they were going to count that as our breaks, and deduct half an hour a night from us.

For reasons stated above we are not always able to get away from work for a continuous 30 minute period, nor is is guaranteed that we will actually get 30 minutes some nights when it is very busy. Even assuming that we do get a 30 minute continuous break, we are still not allowed to leave the building.

At the time that change didn't sit well with me, but I let it slide, and it has long since become unwritten policy to add a 30 minute 'break' to the overnights shift's time punches when they are corrected in the morning.

After visiting the Attorney General's website, it seems to me that what my employeer is doing is not legal, if I am reading the law correctly, they are required to give a 30 minute break which we are allowed to leave the premises for, or should we choose to voluntarily give up that break we are required to be paid for the time we work.

I am unsure how to proceed at this point, I would like to confirm whether my understanding of the law in this situation is correct, whether there are any other caveats I should be aware of, and if my thinking is correct how I should proceed in possibly getting compensated for lost wages, without putting my employment in jepordy.

I read the following from the Attorney General's web site the same that you do.

Meal Breaks

Massachusetts law states that employees must receive a thirty minute break after six hours of working. An employee must be free to leave the workplace during the break. An employee can voluntarily give up the meal break, but must be paid for all hours worked. If you are not receiving a meal break, contact the regional office nearest you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are employees entitled to breaks?

A: Yes, employees may not be required to work more than six hours in any given day without having been provided at least one half hour meal period. Compensation for the 30-minute meal break must be paid if the employee has voluntarily agreed to waive his or her meal break by (1) working through his or her meal break, or (2) remaining on the premises during the meal break. The break period may be unpaid.

Since you cannot leave the premises, you aren't taking an unpaid break and must be paid for your time.

I suggest printing off the section from the AG's site and showing it to the employer.

If they relent, pay you back wages and change their practices in the future, all is well.

Otherwise, contact the AG's office. A quick phone call from them to the employer should work miracles.

Alright, that's fair enough, and I think I will go ahead and write up a letter with that page attached. I do have one question since I couldn't find any answer on the AG's web site when I looked.

Can an employeer require you to take a break, even if you don't want to? While not specifically aplicable in this case, it may come up in the future, as my employeer is under the impression that anyone who works over 5 hours is 'required' to take a break, rather than 'entitled' to one.

The short answer is "yes".

It's perfectly fine to have a policy that requires breaks and disciplines those who do not adhere to the policy (including termination).

I realize why many workers prefer to skip breaks; however it's really to your benefit to take your breaks. Studies show that workers who do not receive regular breaks are less productive and more prone to workplace accidents.