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That’s the Breaks

Guest post by: Betsey Nash

Article Overview: Lunch breaks - rest breaks. How often are they required? How long do they need to be? Does it make a difference which industry you're in? How do I know? Betsey's here to help.

That’s the Breaks

Local employment law attorney, Susan Waag, says expecting common sense in this profession is a lost cause. I know she was referring to the regulations, but she may have meant employee behavior, too. But I digress. If common sense doesn't rule, at least this stuff could be simpler. Not a chance. Take breaks, for example. Really. I mean it: Take your breaks. Meal breaks and rest breaks are mandated, as we all know. Had the Robber Barons of the late 19th century not locked women and children in huge warehouses and chained them to their sewing machines for 18 hours a day, breaks, minimum wage, and safe working conditions may never have become law. But they did and so even the most considerate employer, who would never think of abusing his or her employees, has his relationship with his staff defined in great measure by law.

Back to breaks: If your employees work a "normal" eight hour day, in most industries you must "authorize and permit" them to take a 10 minute rest break for every 4 hours or major portion thereof that they work. So in a normal day, the employees get two 10 minute rest breaks. One employer I knew years ago would tell his employees to take their breaks and in the same sentence remind them that it was those workers who went above and beyond that were promoted. Funny how those employees who skipped their breaks were the ones that moved up. Not OK. Not even close. But, the truth is, with rest breaks, you are not required to force them to take them.

Meal breaks are another story. Meal breaks of at least 30 minutes, in most industries, must be provided before an employee works 4 hours and 59 minutes. Must be provided. An employee misses their meal break and the employer may owe them for another hour's pay.

EXCEPT - you saw that coming - I said "in most industries". In certain industries these rules for meal and rest breaks are different. For instance, in the motion picture industry, employees must take their meal break before 6 hours and have another begin before 6 hours after the first one ended. And it is different in group homes, construction, mining, unions, and more.

So how is an employer to know what rules they have to follow? And not just about breaks; what about overtime, travel and training pay, reimbursement for meals and lodging, alternative workweeks? Here it comes... The best kept secret in HR and the key to the answers: The Department of Industrial Relations Wage Orders. These are the industry-specific details about paying your employees and a copy is supposed to be posted, like the other mandated labor law posters, in an area where your employees can access it.

So, once you find the DIR Wage Orders (which should also be available on the internet), your first job is to figure out which industry you belong in. After that it's, dare I say it? Simple.

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Article Tags: hours, laws, lunch breaks, regulations, rest breaks, rules



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Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do - Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets every career woman must know Kate White 1995 Foy years Kate White lived as a good girl - a rule follower, a people pleaser, a busy beaver - until she was passed over for the job of editor-in-chief of a magazine she had been running for months. She finally realized that being gutsy, not good, was the only way to succeed. A gutsy girl : 1. Breaks the rules 2. Has one clear goal for the future 3. Does only what's essential 4. Doesn't worry whether people like her 5. Walks and talks like a winner 6. Asks for what she wants 7. Faces trouble head on 8. Trusts her instincts 9. Takes smart risks This book has NO table of contents, but above are the chapter headings. A good book, although I really wish they'd stop talking about "girls" and start talking about women.


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