Know your rights

Employers are counting on employees not to know their rights

In today’s job market most employees do not know their rights. The employer is banking on their employees not knowing their rights. A employees’ break period must me counted hours worked, and may not be offset against other working hours.

§785.18 Rest.

Rest periods of short duration, running from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes, are common in industry. They promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time. They must be counted as hours worked. Compensable time of rest periods may not be offset against other working time such as compensable waiting time or on-call time. (Mitchell v. Greinetz, 235 F. 2d 621, 13 W.H. Cases 3 (C.A. 10, 1956); Ballard v. Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., 61 F. Supp. 996 (S.D. Cal. 1945))

What classifies as a meal period is are which do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks, which are for rest periods. An employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. A few examples are provide in the following code regarding meals.

§785.19 Meal.

(a) Bona fide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods are not worktime. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks. These are rest periods. The employee…