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.
And that’s actually a good thing because once you allow this it’s easy for employers to pressure you into “voluntarily” not taking a break, because “it’s so busy right now” or whatever.
A yearly meeting with your boss where they either tell you all the things you did great and maybe a couple small things you can improve on while not paying you more, or they tell you how terrible you did and try to pressure you into doing more work by hanging the threat of your job (homelessness, loss of insurance, death) over your head.
OH, you mean in a country with workers rights and a decent work culture. For a second I thought you fellows were American. Someone said “states” and I just jumped to conclusions lol.
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
8-4 to your payroll people is 8 hours less a lunch break. Because they expect you took it and went home early.
Again it’s not something that can’t be fixed, and I’m sure once in a while it would be fine. But a bunch of people doing it all the time probably causes enough extra work to need to hire someone just to take care of it.
The most unreasonably rigid people you’ve ever met will work in accounting and payroll.
In my timesheets, when I work is logged and automatically calculated. If I put in 8am to 12pm. Then enter 1pm to 5pm, with a 1 hour gap for lunch it calculates 8 hours, if I put in 8am to 4pm, and have “lunch” at the end of the day, it still calculates 8 hours.
It’s not illegal where I live but it’s against my union rules (though it’s not a labour job). They have super strict rules about exactly when we should take our breaks. I get it in principle because there are asshole bosses who would try to force people to work through their breaks or shame them into it, but it really sucks for those of us who just don’t mind pushing through so we can leave early or like to take late lunches.
Yeah, that’s one thing that sucks about union jobs. On the other hand, I’m no longer at a union job and can break/lunch whenever I want, but my boss can make unrealistic expectations and I have no way to argue if I can’t get another manager in the line to back me up. My current workplace is very quickly turning into a shittty place to work since there isn’t a union to push back.
At Lowe’s and they had to crack down on this due to a new(ish) Florida law. Can’t work more than 6 hours of an 8 hour shift without a break. If I took a late lunch, of my own accord, they would get dinged for “forcing” me to work too long. Fair enough.
Yet another reason I love working for salary. So much less bullshit, so much more flexibility. If I want to knock off a couple hours early, go kayaking, work in the evening to run updates, fine.
IDK why, like you’re kinda important-ish & trusted-ish in a way or something… nobody’s worrying how long you’re in the bathroom, get your work done or get fired, angle for that promotion for a bigger salary, no timecards (besides California engineers and perhaps others) that feel kinda like you’re there to be a body as opposed to being there for your mind?
You are spot on. Being free of the clock for 5 years, then going back on was a shock to me. Forgot how limiting that was!
Liberating to accomplish your goals and spend free time working out other paths and projects. All I hear on lemmy is that salary is there to abuse the worker. Not in my limited experience. Salary allowed me to fly and truly contribute.
And we might notice, most salaried jobs are higher level. Can’t compare working a fry vat with working an Active Directory domain.
What state that? I live Oklahoma that follows only federal law, and I been told repeatedly that there is no federal mandate for giving employees breaks at all.
I’ve worked in some states (mainly North Carolina) that have mandated 15 minute breaks every 2* hours on shift, 30 if you stay for 6 hours, and another 15 if you stay for a full 8. This was at a grocery store so YMMV.
I think those numbers are right, but it’s been over ten years since I worked there.
You are correct in that statement. There is no federal mandate for breaks or meals, which is super shitty. However, there is a requirement for at least a meal break in 21 of the states which vary in requirements, some even extending to normal breaks.
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.
And that’s actually a good thing because once you allow this it’s easy for employers to pressure you into “voluntarily” not taking a break, because “it’s so busy right now” or whatever.
That’s when I say “hahaha no”, write it down as a request. Then, when yearly evaluations comes along, I write into my evaluation so it’s on the record
lol wtf are yearly evaluations?
A yearly meeting with your boss where they either tell you all the things you did great and maybe a couple small things you can improve on while not paying you more, or they tell you how terrible you did and try to pressure you into doing more work by hanging the threat of your job (homelessness, loss of insurance, death) over your head.
Don’t forget they also hold you responsible for all your work they held up.
A way to only give one raise per department by pitting coworkers against each other based on goals they set for themselves. No, really…
That’s fucking evil.
it’s where you show off your union-recommended salary increase and tell them to make you a better offer.
OH, you mean in a country with workers rights and a decent work culture. For a second I thought you fellows were American. Someone said “states” and I just jumped to conclusions lol.
Wait, you are sometimes asked to skip lunch?!
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
This is less common than you think, and gets pretty hazy pretty fast where it is true.
The real reason is payroll and accounting.
If you leave an hour early to take your lunch, it looks like you only worked 7 hours.
Could this be fixed? Probably. But accountants are notoriously salty about anything that threatens to crack the mold.
8-4 is still 8 hours?
The average work day is 8-5 with an unpaid lunch break.
8-4 to your payroll people is 8 hours less a lunch break. Because they expect you took it and went home early.
Again it’s not something that can’t be fixed, and I’m sure once in a while it would be fine. But a bunch of people doing it all the time probably causes enough extra work to need to hire someone just to take care of it.
The most unreasonably rigid people you’ve ever met will work in accounting and payroll.
In my timesheets, when I work is logged and automatically calculated. If I put in 8am to 12pm. Then enter 1pm to 5pm, with a 1 hour gap for lunch it calculates 8 hours, if I put in 8am to 4pm, and have “lunch” at the end of the day, it still calculates 8 hours.
It’s not illegal where I live but it’s against my union rules (though it’s not a labour job). They have super strict rules about exactly when we should take our breaks. I get it in principle because there are asshole bosses who would try to force people to work through their breaks or shame them into it, but it really sucks for those of us who just don’t mind pushing through so we can leave early or like to take late lunches.
Yeah, that’s one thing that sucks about union jobs. On the other hand, I’m no longer at a union job and can break/lunch whenever I want, but my boss can make unrealistic expectations and I have no way to argue if I can’t get another manager in the line to back me up. My current workplace is very quickly turning into a shittty place to work since there isn’t a union to push back.
At Lowe’s and they had to crack down on this due to a new(ish) Florida law. Can’t work more than 6 hours of an 8 hour shift without a break. If I took a late lunch, of my own accord, they would get dinged for “forcing” me to work too long. Fair enough.
Yet another reason I love working for salary. So much less bullshit, so much more flexibility. If I want to knock off a couple hours early, go kayaking, work in the evening to run updates, fine.
Salary can kinda feed the ego too a bit, anybody?
IDK why, like you’re kinda important-ish & trusted-ish in a way or something… nobody’s worrying how long you’re in the bathroom, get your work done or get fired, angle for that promotion for a bigger salary, no timecards (besides California engineers and perhaps others) that feel kinda like you’re there to be a body as opposed to being there for your mind?
(Stream of consciousness here)
You are spot on. Being free of the clock for 5 years, then going back on was a shock to me. Forgot how limiting that was!
Liberating to accomplish your goals and spend free time working out other paths and projects. All I hear on lemmy is that salary is there to abuse the worker. Not in my limited experience. Salary allowed me to fly and truly contribute.
And we might notice, most salaried jobs are higher level. Can’t compare working a fry vat with working an Active Directory domain.
What state that? I live Oklahoma that follows only federal law, and I been told repeatedly that there is no federal mandate for giving employees breaks at all.
I’ve worked in some states (mainly North Carolina) that have mandated 15 minute breaks every 2* hours on shift, 30 if you stay for 6 hours, and another 15 if you stay for a full 8. This was at a grocery store so YMMV.
I think those numbers are right, but it’s been over ten years since I worked there.
Edited: cause I remembered the numbers.
You are correct in that statement. There is no federal mandate for breaks or meals, which is super shitty. However, there is a requirement for at least a meal break in 21 of the states which vary in requirements, some even extending to normal breaks.