Okay for an employer to purposely schedule all shifts 5-15 minutes short of a 6 hour mandated break?

It may seem a little picky but it just sounds very odd to me that it'd be okay for an employer to purposely schedule people sometimes even 5 minutes short of the 6 hour so the employee cannot take a state mandated lunch break.

This also applies to those working 12 hour shifts. The managers typically are scheduling them for 11 hr 45 min shifts, give or take.

Is it okay for companies to "slime" their way through the fine print here or are they actually doing something wrong?

1 answer  |  asked May 12, 2018 6:23 PM [EST]  |  applies to New York

Answers (1)

V Jonas Urba
Employment laws are not a civility code. No employer needs to be fair or nice to any employee. They need to comply with labor laws.

Without a union, a fixed term employment contract or working for the government employees are generally "at will." Employers are free to fire employees for no reason. Employees are free to leave for better jobs.

Is the employer violating spread of hours or other labor laws concerning pay? New York is very strict about enforcing wage and hour laws. Sometimes employees are paid a salary when their duties and responsibilities require them to be paid hourly. Other times hourly employees perform more than de minimis services for employers off the clock or responding to texts, e-mails and other work matters during their off hours or during an "interrupted" meal period. These hours often must be compensated.

Seek an employment lawyer consultation about these types of situations if getting a new job is not practical.

posted by V Jonas Urba  |  May 13, 2018 1:43 PM [EST]

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