:confused: I drive truck for a living. I punch a time card in the morning and punch out at the end of the day, I am unable to punch out for lunch as I am away from the shop. The company automatically deducts one half hour of wages from my day for lunch, but only if I go over forty hours in a week. I usually do. But other coworkers of mine regularly don't work more than forty, and at the end of the pay period their timecards read 38 or 39 hours total, lunches included. They are then paid for their lunches (in fact, they are paid for forty hours, although they have worked less than that amount, even including their lunches in the total of hours worked) But as soon as I reach forty hours, I work the next two and a half hours for free (half an hour lunch per day for five days) I only then begin recieving overtime after forty two and a half hours of work. Lunches are only deducted from my paycheck if I work more than forty hours in a week. My employer pays you for your lunches only if you work less than forty hours in a week. Is this legal?

Yes, it is, because they are doing more than is required by law.

However, if you work through your lunch, you need to be paid for it, regardless of whether you work less than 40, exactly 40 hours, or more than 40. You cannot work "for free". If you are not able to take your lunch period, then you need to inform your supervisor/manager so they can remove the lunch deduction from your time records.