Break Times (employee, employer, work, company)

[river444]

Does one usually get a 15 min break on the clock as long as they are scheduled for 4 hrs or after they worked four hours?

[CrowGirl]

I think it varies a lot by employer. In Florida there are mandated breaks for hourly employees but I believe they are off the clock. I'm not sure if they are required - ie. the employer must enforce it regardless of whether the employee wants it or not - or is the employer is required to provide the option.

[Charles]

This chick I worked with spent two hours at the gym every day at lunch (we had one on the Navy base we worked on). She and I worked a 9/80 schedule, that's nine hours every day and every other Friday off (the on Friday was 8 hours). She came in at 7 and left at 5 for her nine hour day. Her two hours was comprised of her one hour lunch break, two 15 minute breaks and two 15 minute smoke breaks but she doesn't smoke so she takes them at the gym. Another chick I worked with (at an Air Force base), spent four hours at the gym working out or teaching a Spinning Class. She was at her desk maybe four hours. Her rationale, "Whatever you can do in 8 hours, you can do in 2 hours.".


Finally, when I first started working in 1986 for a major aerospace company we had paper time cards. We had to note time off during the day, like for a dentist or something. We had all sorts of codes for our time cards, like V for Vaction, and PH for Personal Holiday. PH eventually came to mean "Planned Hangover".

[kodaka]

It is typical, but not required. Florida law actually doesn't require meal or rest breaks (just as most states don't; I'd post a link but I can't link something that doesn't exist) and neither does federal law.

I think most people acquire the assumption that breaks are required from our part-time high school jobs: breaks are required when the worker is a minor. But after the age of 18, an employer isn't required to give you a break.

If however they do give you a break, and it is for less than 20 minutes, they must pay you for it, they cannot deduct it from your wages.

[wheelsup]

When I take a break I'm not paid. I prefer to not take breaks.

[tammie2]

Department of labor stating that no federal law exists.
U.S. Department of Labor - Find It By Topic - Work Hours - Breaks and Meal Periods (http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm - broken link)

CA Law with the requirement of breaks/lunch
California Rest and Meal Break Laws, California Labor Laws Breaks, California Employee Break Laws

This is why any outfit that is based in CA or some even that have locations in CA(this is more for standards than law) will insist that the employees take breaks and lunches. The penalties for not allowing breaks in CA are steep and the potential for a lawsuit great.

There are other states that have similar requirements, just not all. Check your state law for more information.

[annerk]

Kodaka is correct, there is no mandated break time in Florida or most other states.

Where I work there is no 15 minute break in the morning or afternoon, although the hourly employees are encouraged to stop to get a drink of water on a regular basis and certainly allowed to use the bathroom anytime that they need to. And frankly as long as it's not abused if they need to stop to take or make a short phone call now and then, no one cares. They are also paid for their 30 minute lunch break as long as they don't leave our complex. (If they leave during their break they need to clock out due to w/c regulations.)

[JS1]

The rule where I work changed from "stop taking so many breaks!" to "you HAVE to take two 15 minute breaks per day!", which is a welcome, and rare, improvement in the otherwise poisonous working environment.

[malamute]

I think most states require some kind of break after 4 or 5 hours of work whether it's a paid break or unpaid break. That is you can work 5 hours, take an unpaid lunch of 30 minutes or 15 paid break and then work the rest of your shift.

[kodaka]

I think most states require some kind of break after 4 or 5 hours of work whether it's a paid break or unpaid break. That is you can work 5 hours, take an unpaid lunch of 30 minutes or 15 paid break and then work the rest of your shift.

Only 22 states have laws requiring meal breaks, and in 3 of them, the law only applies to a certain narrow population of people: Hawaii, state workers only; Nebraska and Wyoming, factory workers/people on their feet only.

So no, as stated above, most states do not require some kind of break. And none allow either the employee or the employer to 'trade' a meal break for a shorter, paid rest break.

CA = 30 minutes if workday is 6 hours or more (See California Employer's Bulletin for changes)
CO = 30 minutes. If workday is at least 5 hours. (Until 2004, it was 6 hours.)
CT = 30 minutes after 7 and 1/2 hour workday.
DE = 30 minutes after 7 and 1/2 hour workday.
HI = 45 minutes, but only for state government employees.
IL = 20 minutes after 7 and 1/2 hour workday.
KY = "Reasonable" amount of time for meal breaks.
ME = 30 minutes after 6 hours of work.
MA = 30 minutes after 6 hours of work.
MN = "Sufficient time" in an 8-hour work period.
NE = 30 minutes between noon and 1 P.M. in workshops, on assembly lines, or "mechanical establishments."
NV = 30 minutes for every 8 hours of work.
NH = 30 minutes for every 5 hours of work.
NM = 30 minutes.
NY = 30 minutes if shift is 6 hours or more; an additional 20 minutes if shift starts before 11 AM and goes beyond 7 PM, mercantile; 60 minutes, factory.
ND = 30 minutes for work period over 5 hours.
OR = 30 minutes for work period of 6 to 8 hours.
TN = 30 minutes for every 6-hour work period.
WA = 30 minutes for every 5-hour work period.
WV = 20 minutes.
WI = 30 minutes for workdays of 6 hours.
WY = 60 minutes for employees who must work on their feet.