Lunch Breaks

[oOJohnOo]

I live in NC, and I work at night, from 10 pm till 8 am.

Between those hours, I only receive a 10 minute break at 2 am, and a 15 minute break at 5 am, for my supposed "Lunch".

I feel that I'm being over worked, and that I'm not receiving any sort of REAL rest time.

Am I wrong?

Please let me know, so that I can handle this situation as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

[cbg]

I don't have any way of knowing if you are overworked or not.

However, neither Federal nor NC law requires an employer to offer you any breaks at all.

[Pattymd]

And, any breaks you are given, if under 20 minutes in duration, must be paid.

[poldermar]

Can an employer demand that an exempt employee stay in the building during his lunch time even if there is another manager there to cover? How can an employee take care of personal business (like going to the bank) when he works from 9am - 6pm if there is no time during the day that you can leave? (The state in question is North Carolina, if that makes any difference.) Thanks

[mlane58]

In North Carolina, if an employer does give breaks, then the break must be at least 30 minutes for the employer to be able to deduct the time from an employee's pay. An employer does not have to let its employees leave the employer's premises as long as the employee is completely relieved of duty during the 30-minute break, and the employer does not have to provide a breakroom.

[cbg]

It's not the employer's problem how the employee gets his personal business done. As indicated above, there is no Federal or NC law requiring that an employee be given a lunch break in the first place.

Yes, an employer can demand that either an exempt or a non-exempt employee stay in the building, since the employer is not required to give either of them any breaks at all.

[stressedmominnc]

I know this is old, but I thought if you worked 6 hours you were due 30 minutes of unpaid break time (lunch, dinner whatever), and also that you were entitled to at least 1 15 minute break (paid, on the clock time) if you worked up to 5 hours?


When did the laws change? I thought that was part of the federal labor laws?

Confused instead of stressing....
AJ

[cbg]

The laws did not change. Despite a persistant belief that Federal law requires a 30 minute meal break and two fifteen minute rest breaks, that is not, and never has been, true. Federal law does not, and never has, required breaks of any kind. Federal law says only that IF an employer CHOOSES to offer breaks, breaks of under 20 minutes must be paid.

Some, but by no means all, states require meal breaks; a very small handful require rest breaks. But at no time has Federal law done so. I have absolutely no idea why so many people believe it does/did.

[stressedmominnc]

I could have sworn that I read the break rules on the posters that employers hang up at work... I forget wich ones, usually has the federal minimum wage, child labor laws, etc. on it (usually a good size poster). I cannot seem to find it online now that I'm looking for it (of course).

Maybe it was a child labor law that I thought just applied to everyone... I think it should be a law if it's not that people get breaks - at least a lunch/dinner break if they work 8 or more hours.... too many people working 10-15 hour days without a break, meals or any other time to stop and refresh themselves. Explains why we're all suffering from job burn out.

Thanks for the info.. if you can find the poster I'm thinking of, I'd appreciate the info, if not, don't kill yourself trying to find it.

Thanks!
AJ

[cbg]

I think it should be the law too. But it's not. And sorry, but the reason you're not finding it on the labor law posters is that it isn't there.

Federal law has never, at any time, required breaks for adult workers. I can't even find a Federal law requiring breaks as you describe for minors.

Possibly your state has such a law for minors. It does not have such a law for adult employees.

BTW, NO state, with a single, industry specific exception in Illinois that was only signed into law a matter of a couple of weeks ago, requires two 15 minute breaks for adult employees. There are about 6 states that require 10 minutes for every four hours worked. But the mandatory 15 minute break morning and afternoon is, at least for adults, a myth.

[poldermar]

I live in North Carolina and my employer allows 8 sick days a year. If I come to work at the usual reporting time (8am) and then become ill and leave sometime that morning - say 10am, should I be docked a sick day?

[cbg]

This really has nothing to do with the thread topic, but the answer to your question is that the law does not address this issue. It's entirely up to company policy.

[allcron]

So, if my employer offers breaks of all types, do I HAVE to take a lunch break? Sometimes I just don't have the time due to deadlines and I work through lunch. My employer can't make me take a lunch break, can they?

[cbg]

That's where you're wrong. Just because the law does not require breaks in your state does not mean the employer cannot.

It is up to the employer what hours are worked. If they want to make a lunch break mandatory, they most certainly can do so, and they can fire you for not complying. The fact that Federal and state law does not require a break does NOT mean that it's your choice whether to take one or not if your employer says otherwise.

[bbgrit]

my employeer recently informed us that we were not required to have any breaks or lunches and on somedays we work up to 13 hrs a day. he also said that the restroom is over there and we could go at anytime and that is his version of a break . i thought that in the state of nc that every two hours you was required a 5-15 break for the first then lunch was 30-1 hr depending on the company and then a last break . dazed and confused . please help. thanks

[Pattymd]

bbgrit, did you read the responses earlier in this thread? Look at the very first response. I quote:

neither Federal nor NC law requires an employer to offer you any breaks at all.

Nothing has changed.

[sclark]

your state might have mandatory meal breaks. The requirements vary, but many employees are guaranteed a 30 minute meal period per shift. To qualify, your shift will generally need to be 6 hours, and maybe even 8 hours long.

These states require meal periods: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia.

To find your state’s requirements, consult the Department of Labor’s chart on meal periods.

[Betty3]

You replied to a thread/question from 2006.

[followup]

I work shifts that consist of either 8 hrs or 10 hrs, depending on the discretion of the manager that does scheduling. During that time, I am always on the clock, and normally I work alone, or they may call in a part time employee to help out.

While working, I take no breaks because my job demands me to be of service at all times...I recently noticed through our online payroll system, that a lunch break is "automatically" being deducted from our time. I don't leave the job site, and the only time that I do hit the time clock is when I arrive/leave for work.

What I am wondering is, is this illegal, because NC Labor Division doesn't cover this issue as far as automatic deduction of hours for a lunch, and if it is, what can be done to solve this problem?

[Pattymd]

followup, please start your own thread instead of adding on to a long dormant thread. Thank you.

[cbg]

Some threads simply refuse to die, so I am going to kill this one.