Is this legal?

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
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Today, due to the high call volume, my company instituted the following:

All employees must take mandatory 1/2 hour lunches, rather than the regular 1 hour. Overtime will be paid for the extra 1/2 hour. Employees are not allowed to leave 1/2 hour early, you must work until your normal time.

Is this legit? It seems to me this would be illegal. This means 8 hour folks had an 8.5 hour day, & 10 hour people had 10.5 hour days. That's messed up.

Would we have the right to refuse that? I know they can cut our lunches short, but can they really tell us we then have to work 'til our normal time?

[EDIT]There we go, all better now...[/EDIT]

Viper GTS
 

Windogg

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,241
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Unfortunatly with a private company they can make everyone wear clown makeup every day if they wanted to.

Windogg
 

Hossenfeffer

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
7,462
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Rest and Meal Periods

Q. What rest and meal periods are required by law?
A. There are different rest and meal period requirements, depending on whether workers are adults or minors. Rest periods may not be added to the meal period or deducted from the beginning or end of the work period in order to reduce the length of the work period.

Adults: Meal periods of 30 minutes must be provided if the workday is six hours or longer. The employee must be relieved of all duty during this time. If the employee can't be relieved due to the nature or circumstances of the work, then the meal period must be paid. The scheduling of meal periods is flexible and depends on the length of the workday.

Paid rest periods of at least ten minutes must be provided during each four-hour work period or major part thereof. The rest period is to be taken approximately in the middle of each work segment. There are narrow exemptions to the rest period requirements for adult employees working alone in retail/service business.

I'll check on the rest

 

Russ

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
21,093
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Actually, it varies from state to state, and within state laws different provisos exist for different industries. In Oregon and Washington both, the law allows what are called "on-duty" breaks where the business is dealing with customer service, such as Retail and Restaurant.

In other words, a break period does not need to be specified at all in a job that deals primarily with customer service. The reasoning is that, unlike a production job, there are many times when no work is being performed and it is left up to the employee to manage that time as breaks.

It is highly likely that this applies in your situation.

Russ, NCNE
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,014
137
106
I guess my non-lawyer opinion is as good as anyone else's. I would assume you had agreed when you were hired that you would work overtime as required, so I figure they are within their rights to require that.

As long as you are getting paid for all the hours you work, they're in the clear. If you are an hourly worker and not getting paid for the extra 30 minutes, that's a different story.

 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
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But when the whole reason for forcing the 1/2 hour lunches is that we've been busier than hell?

Seems like backwards logic to me, an easy law to abuse I guess.

Viper GTS
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,014
137
106
You're in Oregon, right?

Got this from their Bureau of Labor and Industry site.

Q. Can I require employees to work overtime?
A. Yes. An employer may dictate an employee's work schedule and hours. Employers may discipline or even terminate employees who refuse to work scheduled overtime. It is advisable to give employees as much advance notice of overtime requirements as practicable.

Q. Is there a maximum number of hours employees can work during a day?
A. For most adult workers, there are no limits on daily work hours. Theoretically, employers may schedule employees to work seven days a week, 24 hours per day, so long as minimum wage and overtime laws are observed. Manufacturing employees are limited to 13 hours of work in a 24-hour period. There are also daily and weekly limitations on the hours minors (employees under 18) can work. For more information, see the Oregon Wage & Hour Laws handbook.


 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Damn. I would have done it anyway, but it sucks they can have that kind of power. I'm sorry, but if I'd scheduled something important around my longstanding work schedule, I would kindly tell my employer to go fvck themselves with a cattle prod.

:|

Viper GTS
 

Vikaden

Golden Member
Apr 10, 2000
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In florida, after 4 hours of work you have to have a paid 15 min break, after 6 you have to have a 30 min unpaid break. Where i work i get 2 15 min paid and one 30 min unpaid
 

dl

Banned
Oct 29, 1999
1,633
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are you salary(peon) or hourly(bigger peon)? if hourly, you don't havta do it, if salary, HAHA!

I'm salary so....too d@mn bad! plus...quit whining ;) what's so bad about giving a little back to the company? they're compensating you are they not?
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,381
8,130
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The company I used to work for, I had to work a 12 hour shift by myself. As Russ said, breaks don't apply to CS related jobs like you are currently doing, and I was doing at the time.

In those twelve hours, I didn't have a given lunch break, nor did I have scheduled breaks.

Also, this was the same company that said that a couple years before I came on, made everyone work 55 hour weeks. They were salaried, and there wasn't much you could do about it :(