more non-exempt lunch issues

[JSW23]

Question -

I am supposed to work from 8:30 - 5:00 (lunch is 1/2 hour unpaid and 2 15 minute paid breaks). We are not to use the unpaid half hour to either come in later or leave early. The way our time is calculated is that we have to punch in and punch out, and the hour, whether we take it or not, is automatically deducted from our day, thus making it impossible to leave early or come in later.

How can I be told when to take an unpaid 1/2 of my time - what difference does it make if its at 8:30 or 4:30 - it's unpaid!! Am I the only one with an issue here?

If this time is unpaid, how can we be told when to take it - maybe I don't want a lunch, and it is my understanding in NJ that there are no mandatory lunch breaks required - legally.

My co-workers and I eagerly await your replies

Jen

[cbg]

The employer is the one that determines what hours you work. Not you, and not your fellow employees.

Just because there is no mandatory lunch requirement under state law, doesn't mean that the employer is required to let you either skip the company-established break time or to take it whenever you want. It is the employer's opt, not yours, what hours you work.

[tfasulko]

I am new to this forum, I had a question regarding being an exempt employee and having my director tell me and the other staff in my department that we must clock in and out for lunch. No other department has to do this. What do you think?
Teri

[JSW23]

Even though the 1/2 hour is unpaid? That is my concern - if it's unpaid, how can it be demanded that it be taken at a certain time. Suppose I just wanted to take the company paid 15 minute breaks - there is nothing that states that lunch must be taken that way - it's just done that way.

[cbg]

Yes, even if the half hour is unpaid. Just because it's unpaid doesn't mean you get to take it whenever you please. As I said, it's the employer who decides when you work; that means he also decides when you don't work. You don't get to decide how and when you are going to take your breaks unless the company grants you that right.

There is nothing illegal about requiring an exempt employee to clock in and out for lunch regardless of whether other departments have to do so or not.

[JSW23]

I am non-exempt - there is no fixed lunch time. it just gets deducted.

[cbg]

There was a hijack question in your thread which was where my comments about exempt came from.