How jobs get around the California lunch rule!

[auntiem]

That’s why it is so important to read your companies SOP books.
I read mine cover to cover.
Why not that it’s what I’m suppose to do that first day.

I have found so much information in the books.
At the end they usually say sign the book to prove that your read and understand it.

However, the many things I have found makes that impossible to do without signing away some rights.

I point this out to my Manager and all they do is rip that page out of the book.
I make note of the ripped page in the book and say something like manager …. Ripped the page out and said it no longer applies.
I initial that and have the manager initial it too. Then I make note of date and time. I then sign the SOP and make note of the date and time.

And people laugh at me.

[stephenbrookes]

Here in uk, it is 20mins every 6hours, usually unpaid. I have heard of employers that give a 30min paid break, but it is exceptional.
Not allowing meal breaks is at best unwise. I have found when running call centre sales and customer service operations, that two hours is about the longest people can be productive without a break. I advocated for 8 am start, a quick ten minute morning coffee meeting, to motivate the team, then hit the phones for the rest of that two hours. Then a 15 minute break, then 2 hours and a 30min lunch. Followed by two hours then a 15 min then an hour and go home. An 8 hour day with 7 productive. My team was top performer 6 months in a row, even when I was on holiday for two weeks. Breaks are an investment.

[jacquil]

Thank you for your wonderful help! You are helping us more than you can ever imagine. OneLove.

[marsdoria]

Workers rights are truly weak in the USA if you compare it to countries like Germany or Finland. But at least California is leading the way for workers. It ain't much...but it's better than nothing.

[summeryoung]

Same thing in Washington lol. They have the 30 and 2 15s. I was like "yea I'm not signing that I want my breaks" literally nothing they can do lol. It was however really bizarre to work in a place that didn't care if you "hit your 5 (hour mark)" because I usually would get impressed upon how important it was to take my break before the 5 hour mark if I missed it at other jobs lol and the first couple times I took a late lunch (if it wasn't obvious I prefer a late lunch lol) at my latest job I felt like I was looking over my shoulder the next couple days for a manager to pop out and be like "hey you took your break late!!"

Crazily enough my new job has paid lunchbreaks. Idaho doesn't even require any form of break lol.

[blendpinexus]

the contract my union has entitles me to a lunch break. and i tell ya there are days where i really needed that 30 or so min of not thinking about work at all.

[Z_Cowboy]

Hey Lawyer Ryan! Im a dealership test driver for diagnostics and repair on exotic cars. Sometimes I'm on the road for hours at a time. And my employer is really awesome. He gives me $25 cash for lunch everyday and lets me have 90 minutes paid lunch. I've never had a boss like that.

[karenflynn]

If you work through your break, but your employer doesn't pay you for that time, that is wage theft.
A good example is nurses, who regularly do not get a chance to eat during a 12+ hour shift. If the employer only pays for 11 1/2 hours because they expect you to take a meal break, they are stealing, and that is against the law.

[faeself]

WA state also has law protecting lunches I can't remember the specific RCW for it right now though.

[psyience]

The idea of an unpaid lunch break never made sense to me. I’d rather just leave a half hour earlier then sit there at work for a half hour that I have to makeup on the backend.

[Supergirllrubylove]

Never sign the waiver, even if you don’t know what you want . Take your lunch, lunch breaks are for a reason .

[digbudkiss]

Workers should have a meal break in every state.

[lapislazarus]

I HATED being forced to take meal breaks for a five hour shift. Even doing an eight hour shift sometimes, especially at my one job those days when we didn't have public to assist...
Just let me work straight through and I can leave 30-60 minutes earlier!

[boethia]

Ok. Lunch breaks should be a federal law for shifts at least 8 hours.

[WMDistraction]

It’s completely nuts how companies just seem to think their employees can work endlessly. Like, wouldn’t you want your employees to be fed so they can, y’know, have the energy to do the work that makes your company millions/billions in revenue?

[EvilerOMEGA]

How are these waivers legal if getting the job is contingent on signing them in the first place?

[baylinkdashyt]

In the 80s, when I was still a teenager, I worked for a Florida Albertsons store, and the policy there was:

4hr - paid 10 minute break
5hr - paid 15 minute break
6+hr - unpaid 30 minute lunch (and you still got the breaks if the partial shifts were long enough).

Our front-end manager told us that was nationwide Albertsons policy because it conformed with the contract rules in the markets they were in which was unionized.

Oh, the other rule?

You got OT *for any hour in a day over 8*. Not by the week. Also union.

They were *very* careful about staffing levels. :-)

[MatheusFerreira-mulu]

Here in Brazil you get 1 hour lunch break + 15mins coffee break If you're working for more than 5 continuous hours all paid
I get SO HORRIFIED with all these stories about worker rights in the US

[martindematteo]

Most DoD corporations do very similar things. That may you sign documents saying that they're not obligated to pay time and a half and you only get straight through hours or compensation time off.

[HealingSwordsman]

Allowing a waiver makes it not a right at all. How ridiculously neo-liberal of them.. does no one understand power balance?