on duty and being docked for lunch

[jtcinc]

hi, my hubby has worked for this company now for 6 months. he is a truck driver and does local deliveries. now he punches a time clock in the morning when he arrives and when he leaves for the day and does not punch out for a lunch but company takes 1/2 hr away every day no ?'s asked. now i thought it was illeagal for a company to mess with an employess time card or time sheet?

also my hubby does not get to take a lunch due to him being very busy and if he should by chance get one hes always on duty because he has to stay w/ the truck or keep in eyesight and carry the walkie talkie w/ him where ever he goes even after work hrs. again i thought this was illegal because he is not releived of his duties to be docked for lunch. can someone please help. we live in illinois but used to live in wisconsin and the company is in illinois as well. just want to know what are legal rights are cuz it affects his o/t and his paycheck. for 2.5 hrs a week x 4-5 weeks a month thats abt 186.00 month extra we could use not to mention the o/t hrs.

thanks so much.

confused in illinois

[Pattymd]

Of course, when he is too busy to take his meal break, he must be paid for those hours. He needs to report to his supervisor and on his delivery report or other paperwork that he worked and his supervisor should make sure the lunch deduction is deleted from the system.

Now, the taking of a meal period where he has to stay with his truck and wear the pager may be considered on duty, but I would recommend calling the IL Dept. of Labor to confirm. The wearing of the pager alone does not make it on-duty time, although once he is paged, it now becomes work time. It may be (although unlikely) that they consider that he has enough freedom during that period to deem it duty-free, therefore noncompensable. However, if they make that decision, I would be surprised.

Good luck.

[jtcinc]

reply to reply

thanks for posting back. it does not matter if he gets to take lunch break or not they just automatically take away 1/2 hr of time away everyday. so each week he loses 2 1/2 hrs of work time. and 99% of time he does not get to take his breaks or lunch due to busy schedule. now illinois as i found does not have set rules or laws deeming breaks or lunches but what we do not understand is how they can just tamper with his time and take away 2 1/2 hrs when he does not get a lunch. it does not matter if he tells supervisor or not and they will not pay him for it. just the way they do things. but per federal law since he has to stay with truck and carry phone with him at all times this seems to fall under that he is still on duty and shoule be compensated for this 1/2 hr as i understand it. i could be wrong here, just wanted some other/better insight in matter. thanks so much. this company has alot of drivers working for them and i have figured out that they are saving themselves well over 150,000 a month by taking time from the drivers. these hrs cut into the drivers ot pay.

[Pattymd]

Then he should file a complaint with the IL Dept. of Labor for unpaid wages.