Unpaid lunch
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In a lot of states it’s illegal for workers to work too many consecutive hours without a break, especially if it’s a physical labor job. Your employer may legally not be able to allow this.
Though sometimes they are just petty and inflexible.
They used to only have you be at work for 8 hours, and paid you for your lunch break. Then companies got greedy and realized they could squeeze it extra time for free by not paying for your lunch break and extending the work day. Wages didn't rise to compensate for that stolen time
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Wait, there's jobs where people don't get payed for their lunch break? I thought that was a scary myth.
Canada here, my lunch routine includes hitting up my digital "punch clock" (I work remote, but we have an app thing), then setting a timer to remind myself that my lunch is ending when I have about 2 minutes left on the clock. I then go and "enjoy" my lunch, and when my timer alerts, trudge back to my computer and press the "lunch is over" button.
To be fair, of the last 4 jobs I've worked, plus my current workplace, this is the only one that actually had a punch clock of any sort or variety. The rest just trusted that I took my lunch for an appropriate amount of time and took the normal amount off of my worked hours for the day.
My favorite workplace of the above set, paid me a set salary every payday, regardless of if I was in office, on vacation, sick, working partial days some days, or whatever. I'd always collect the same amount at regular intervals. They didn't bother with all the micromanagement and complexity of counting the seconds on/off shift.... Which is both good and bad, since that basically negates any overtime, but in all other circumstances, works in my favor.
To be clear, OT/after hours/extra time working was rare, and not really something that happened.I work IT support, so it definitely happened, it was just so rare that I couldn't cite any specific circumstances when it happened.
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When I worked for a big game studio, we had a clan, as did many of the other big studios in the country. Every lunch we'd join the same servers. Battlefield, TF2, StarCraft... good times. Well, good lunch times.
They let you out of your crunch cages?!
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California is so bizarre, you get mandated lunch breaks but god forbid you want full time employment without risk of being fired at any time for no reason
I think that's a common US blue state issue. NY is the same. Mandated 15-min, and lunch breaks every few hours, but still "At-Will"
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This is false. You cannot be fired without reason, you can be fired for any legal reason which will vary from state to state, which may be more strict (for employers) than federal law.
"No reason" IS a legal reason to fire someone in an At-Will state (which is the entire US excepting Montana).
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requirements for doing your work efficiently cannot be considered out of work, including transport.
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Wait, so you don't eat for 8 hours?
Intermittent fasting is a decent way to lose weight without thinking too hard about calorie counting. You stop feeling hungry during the day after a week or two.
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Wait, there's jobs where people don't get payed for their lunch break? I thought that was a scary myth.
Almost all jobs in America...
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They let you out of your crunch cages?!
Thankfully, lunchtime is pretty well enforced by law in Australia... didn't prevent the "reasonable overtime is included in your base salary" contract clause, where "reasonable" is defined by the publisher, though.
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Almost all jobs in America...
*Almost all non-salary jobs in America
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It used to be 5th hour about a decade ago but DeWine be DeWining
Well that makes sense, pro business DeWine does something that hurts the workers.
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Almost all jobs in America...
wrote last edited by [email protected]My god. You poor souls. Its illegal to do that here. Even the most demanding "squeeze every minute out of the worker" jobs don't do that. 30 min out of your 8 hours is reserved for lunch and lunch is payed for by the employer (the food as well), by law. 8 hour shift effectively comes out to a maximum of 7.5 hours of actual work.
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An american joke i am too european to understand
wrote last edited by [email protected]Classic Europeans on the Internet trying to make fun of [bad thing that happens in the US] without realising it also happens in Europe
If you work between 6 to 9 hours a day, you are entitled to a 30-minute break after no later than 6 hours. If you work more than 9 hours a day, the break is extended to 45 minutes. Labour law prohibits taking the break at the end of the day’s work in order to leave earlier.
As soon as your daily working time reaches 6 hours immediately, you must have a break of at least 20 minutes consecutive
The break is granted:
- Either immediately after 6 hours of work[, or]
- before this 6-hour period is completed
Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:
- the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
- workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)
American states set their own labour laws, but the ones of the state where I live (Oregon) are actually far more generous than comparable ones in Europe. I am entitled by law during an eight-hour working day to one 30-minute lunch break (not paid) and two additional 10-minute breaks (counts as time worked and is paid). Meaning I get 50 minutes of breaks in a day and the employer has to pay me during 20 minutes of those breaks. My employment contract actually gives me a 1-hour lunch break in addition to the two 10-minute breaks, which isn't required by law but is not uncommon.
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My god. You poor souls. Its illegal to do that here. Even the most demanding "squeeze every minute out of the worker" jobs don't do that. 30 min out of your 8 hours is reserved for lunch and lunch is payed for by the employer (the food as well), by law. 8 hour shift effectively comes out to a maximum of 7.5 hours of actual work.
Yeah it used to be like that here, too. But billionaires have been attacking union power for decades to the point they were able to pull this bullshit
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*Almost all non-salary jobs in America
You think most salary jobs aren't giving you specific working hours these days, which generally span 9 hours a day but pay you based on 40 hours a week?
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but it only becomes normalized because
workers fail to hold the line.the rich business owners in charge have been busting unions and brainwashing people with anti-union propaganda for decades.Unions have been attempted more times than they've succeeded, not because of workers failing, but because powerful people have power and will do whatever dirty tactics they can to keep it.
Unions have been attempted more times than they’ve succeeded
I get what you mean, but I can't resist the urge to point out that that's basically a truism. The number of successes must be greater or equal than the number of attempts by definition, since a success without an attempt is not possible.
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Classic Europeans on the Internet trying to make fun of [bad thing that happens in the US] without realising it also happens in Europe
If you work between 6 to 9 hours a day, you are entitled to a 30-minute break after no later than 6 hours. If you work more than 9 hours a day, the break is extended to 45 minutes. Labour law prohibits taking the break at the end of the day’s work in order to leave earlier.
As soon as your daily working time reaches 6 hours immediately, you must have a break of at least 20 minutes consecutive
The break is granted:
- Either immediately after 6 hours of work[, or]
- before this 6-hour period is completed
Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:
- the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
- workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)
American states set their own labour laws, but the ones of the state where I live (Oregon) are actually far more generous than comparable ones in Europe. I am entitled by law during an eight-hour working day to one 30-minute lunch break (not paid) and two additional 10-minute breaks (counts as time worked and is paid). Meaning I get 50 minutes of breaks in a day and the employer has to pay me during 20 minutes of those breaks. My employment contract actually gives me a 1-hour lunch break in addition to the two 10-minute breaks, which isn't required by law but is not uncommon.
France goes even harder saying you aren't even allowed to eat at your desk
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But then you phone them at 14:00 and they've already left
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France goes even harder saying you aren't even allowed to eat at your desk
Thats also in germany
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Reminder: the traditional "9 to 5" workday that is considered "full time" includes lunch. If you're not getting paid for it or are working 8 to 5 or whatever, you're getting swindled.
You might say it's "normal" now, but it only becomes normalized because workers fail to hold the line.
That's why they make it 9-5:30
