Working between Christmas and New Years?

[corco]

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

Googling for Florida specifically indicates Florida doesn't require breaks, which...man.

[jeffandnicole]

Warning...unsolicited advice ahead...

Florida is a Right To Work State which means that workers have no rights at all!  I worked for Denny's years ago and you could not take a break unless there were no customers in the place or unless there was enough staff around to handle those patrons that were in there.  Basically offering you a break is a previlidge and not a right unless you are a minor.

This is probably illegal under federal labor laws, regardless of any Florida law to the contrary. (Note: not a lawyer, just a business owner who has researched this stuff for when I eventually have employees.)

I think it's legal as long as you are getting paid for that break time.  It's more an issue with internal rules and/or union rules.

Generally, lunch hours (or half-hours, or 3/4 hours) are unpaid, especially for hourly employees.  Thus, employees are not required to work during that time. Salaried employees may or may not have 'unpaid' lunch hours, although depending on their line of business, they may work thru their lunch hours anyway.

[realjd]

Florida is a Right To Work State which means that workers have no rights at all!  I worked for Denny's years ago and you could not take a break unless there were no customers in the place or unless there was enough staff around to handle those patrons that were in there.  Basically offering you a break is a previlidge and not a right unless you are a minor.

That's not the correct use of "Right to Work". Right to Work laws forbid employers from requiring union membership from employees. It means everyone has a right to work without being forced into joining a union. It's often confused with "Employment At Will" which means an employer can fire you for any non-discriminatory reason but you're also free to quit at any time. Just about every state is an At Will state but not all are a Right To Work state. Florida is both.

What you're talking about is just weak labor laws and has nothing to do with mandatory union membership or being fired with no cause.

Sorry, I always feel compelled to correct wrong uses of "Right to Work". It's a common mistake but I just can't ever let it go!

[AsphaltPlanet]

I am working both Christmas and New Years this year.  It's a consequence of working at a 24-hour office as I do.  I don't mind though, I don't have kids that require my attention for Christmas, and I will make lots of money for working the holidays.  My office is typically not very busy this time of year, so I'll get a good paycheck for not too much trouble.

[NE2]

Sorry, I always feel compelled to correct wrong uses of "Right to Work". It's a common mistake but I just can't ever let it go!

That's what happens when the laws are named with Orwellian doublespeak.

[Brandon]

Sorry, I always feel compelled to correct wrong uses of "Right to Work". It's a common mistake but I just can't ever let it go!

That's what happens when the laws are named with Orwellian doublespeak.

Sort of like "Affordable Care Act", which is actually Unaffordable? 

Two can play this game.

[NE2]

Quit watching Fox "News".

[Duke87]

Salaried employees may or may not have 'unpaid' lunch hours, although depending on their line of business, they may work thru their lunch hours anyway.

Company policy tells us that we are not supposed to count time we spend eating lunch as billable time unless we work while we eat. Which is actually a pretty common thing to do, it's all too easy to have food in one hand and your computer mouse in the other! I've also been known to eat on the subway while traveling to or from an inspection.

[Brandon]

Quit watching Fox "News".

Sorry, I don't watch Fox News.  You might want to stop watching MSNBC though.  I find CNN a bit better than either.

[Alps]

Quit watching Fox "News".

Sorry, I don't watch Fox News.  You might want to stop watching MSNBC though.  I find CNN a bit better than either.

Threads you won't see on AARoads: Unbiased news sources. CNN is crap, by the way.

[hbelkins]

For awhile, I was having to do lots of daytime travel and didn't have time to eat lunch, so I would drive through a drive-through and grab something to eat on my way from one destination to the next. I always counted that as working time, until I was told that I was expressly NOT allowed to do so. I was required to take at least a half-hour for lunch and wasn't allowed to work straight through the day without a break.

[Brandon]

Quit watching Fox "News".

Sorry, I don't watch Fox News.  You might want to stop watching MSNBC though.  I find CNN a bit better than either.

Threads you won't see on AARoads: Unbiased news sources. CNN is crap, by the way.

Never said it wasn't, just better than the other two.  It's the polished turd of the three, if you will.

[Alps]

Quit watching Fox "News".

Sorry, I don't watch Fox News.  You might want to stop watching MSNBC though.  I find CNN a bit better than either.

Threads you won't see on AARoads: Unbiased news sources. CNN is crap, by the way.

Never said it wasn't, just better than the other two.  It's the polished turd of the three, if you will.

Damn, dude. Try one of the major networks.

[realjd]

For awhile, I was having to do lots of daytime travel and didn't have time to eat lunch, so I would drive through a drive-through and grab something to eat on my way from one destination to the next. I always counted that as working time, until I was told that I was expressly NOT allowed to do so. I was required to take at least a half-hour for lunch and wasn't allowed to work straight through the day without a break.

That sucks. Still, out in the field, how would your supervisors even know?

EDIT: Not saying you should lie to management, just wondering how it even came up

Threads you won't see on AARoads: Unbiased news sources. CNN is crap, by the way.

Flip to the CNN international feed. It's much better. Also BBC World News. Both channels avoid US political talking heads and the nonsense they spout.

[NE2]

But the world has a liberal bias!

[Alps]

Enough about news stations. Back on topic.

[Duke87]

I was required to take at least a half-hour for lunch and wasn't allowed to work straight through the day without a break.

Yep, sounds like government work. An ex of mine who worked for a county government had a similar policy at her job. I didn't explicitly have such a policy when I did municipal work in college, although they did assume a half hour for lunch every day in their timekeeping and automatically deduct that from the time I clocked between punch in and punch out (I was paid by the hour) - so the fact that you were supposed to take a half hour lunch break was nonetheless implied.


I'm not sure I like the idea of being told I have to take a break whether I want to or not. If I'm busy, it's really inconvenient to have to do so since it delays my departure at the end of the day, and I'd rather have an extra half hour at home to relax than have a half hour of not working time in the office.

[empirestate]

That's not the correct use of "Right to Work". Right to Work laws forbid employers from requiring union membership from employees. It means everyone has a right to work without being forced into joining a union. It's often confused with "Employment At Will" which means an employer can fire you for any non-discriminatory reason but you're also free to quit at any time. Just about every state is an At Will state but not all are a Right To Work state. Florida is both.

What you're talking about is just weak labor laws and has nothing to do with mandatory union membership or being fired with no cause.

Sorry, I always feel compelled to correct wrong uses of "Right to Work". It's a common mistake but I just can't ever let it go!

Technically, you can't be compelled to join a union in NY either, though it's not a Right to Work state. What you can be compelled to do is pay your share of union dues (and receive union benefits), just without officially being enrolled.

[hbelkins]

That sucks. Still, out in the field, how would your supervisors even know?

EDIT: Not saying you should lie to management, just wondering how it even came up

Would have been easily discoverable from the timesheets we are required to fill out, showing time in and out in the morning and afternoon. But I wasn't called out specifically. We were all given a general reminder. There are guidelines as to how soon after you start work that you can take lunch, or how long you have been at work before you must take lunch. I think they're federal guidelines.

[Scott5114]

In most cases, employees do better work if they're not fatigued. Even for a desk job it can be beneficial to get up, walk around, and clear your mind. In some jobs, it's essential for safety reasons. So it makes sense to require employees take breaks even if they do not feel they need them.

I have done some research and, indeed, there are no requirements regarding required breaks under federal or or Oklahoma state law (other than, apparently, breaks must be paid, but lunch time can be unpaid, so long as the employee is free to do whatever they want during the lunch period). Rather, what I was thinking of is an amalgamation of company policies at the companies I have worked for. Nonetheless, an employer that refuses its employees break time fails to recognize its employees as people with human needs, so it is a poor employer to work for. I would personally not tolerate such working conditions.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I'm on vacation until January 7th .

[english si]

CNN is crap, by the way.

Any network who allows Piers Morgan airtime is automatically worse than crap Even before you factor in that his fame came when he was the editor of the paper that was most prolific at phone hacking and bribery, and thus his status as a credible journalist should be on a par with Rebecca Brookes...

Your having him over that side of the pond seems to be the only reason why he's not spending time at her Majesty's pleasure - if we arrest him for the clear perjury he's done (on top of the phone hacking and bribery), then he'd not be 3000 miles away!

In most cases, employees do better work if they're not fatigued. Even for a desk job it can be beneficial to get up, walk around, and clear your mind. In some jobs, it's essential for safety reasons. So it makes sense to require employees take breaks even if they do not feel they need them.

We get 20 minutes paid break per day if working more than 6 hours in the UK https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work.

Most office employers will recommend a 5 minute 'tea break' every hour or 90 minutes, to let you stretch your legs, get a drink/snack, etc. Merely as it improves productivity and avoids law suits about ill health.

I'm on vacation until January 7th .

I have a third of my year's lectures between now and then.

[mass_citizen]

Florida is a Right To Work State which means that workers have no rights at all!

I too have found that working in a "right to work" state leaves me with little to no "rights" other than to not join a union. In many cases the union work is priced out by the "right to work" employers paying cheap wages and being able to charge cheaper prices. Great for corporate profits, bad for employees paychecks. Eventually "trickles" down to the point of high unemployment and people with no money to spend at these same businesses.

believe it or not since I've been working in Mass. and in a union I've never been better. As for the holidays, I have xmas and new years day off.

[ZLoth]

Heading in to work now. 

[ZLoth]

About to head in to work again. I have a babysit a troubleshooting call between a end user and a telco tonight at 3:30 PM.... in Malaysa.