September 6, 2014 - CompassRose
Meal break shenanigans
I have been working at the Levittown New York target for about two years now. I generally had no complaints until, and this may seem relatively minor, they started cheating me out of meal breaks.
They don’t want you working for six hours without a meal break, as such they encourage you to clock out if you are approaching the 6-hour mark. The ETLs try to either get you to take a longer shift or a shorter shift- whatever it takes so that you don’t get a 45 minute break in a 6 hour shift. Is there some unwritten rule I am missing here? If its a matter of keeping working hours between clock in- break and clock out equal, I can do that for you!
6-hour shift; clock in. Hour and 45 minutes later, take the fifteen. Hour and fifteen minutes after that, take the 45. Two solid hours of work straight after then clock out. How hard is that?
Don’t give me the ‘it short changes the worker’. It doesn’t. It short changes the employer since they essentially pay you for an extra fifteen minutes when you do five hours of work.
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I don't know what your local state laws are, but usually breaks are not paid for. That's why you're supposed to clock out for them.
My GUESS as to why you're having these issues is more likely to do with lunch break compliance problems. If you get a 6 hour shift, it's usually a requirement to take a lunch break. If you don't work 6 hours, they can try and get away with not giving lunch breaks. However, it's a shady thing to do, because if you're SCHEDULED for 6 hours, you're required to take a break. Again, I don't know your local laws, but they should be posted on the break room wall. Read them.
It isn't a matter of local laws though, it's the fact that they knowingly schedule you for six hours, and then fight to ensure that you don't get the meal break you're supposed to get by pressuring you into either clocking out and going home early or staying later.
Where I live the schedule works like this:
If you work up to four hours, you get one paid break. It must be taken within the first two hours of your shift.
If you work five to six hours, you get one paid break and one unpaid meal break, normally fifteen and thirty minutes respectfully. The meal break must be taken before the fifth hour.
If you work seven to eight hours, you get two paid breaks and one unpaid meal break.
But again it differs from state to state, so like Admin said check the breakroom posters.
In California we have to take a 45 minute meal break by five hours. Three violations of which is a fire-able offense. If you are scheduled six or more hours NOT COUNTING YOUR LUNCH (e.g. 10 am - 4 pm) you are entitled to a second break, though some TL's may not agree and say your lunch does count; this may be a greyish area of the law. What I've said is from a sheet above our time clock.
Every two hours, break or lunch is the easy rule. Again in California.
I'm pretty sure if they fired you for missing lunch, you could sue the shit out of them. It's generally management's responsibility to ensure their employees get their lunch breaks. If they were to fire you for not taking lunch breaks, you can sue them for wrongful termination and neglecting the lunch laws. They would likely get fined by the state, pay you unemployment, and also possibly a separate settlement. And chances are that could become a class action lawsuit very quickly.
And don't forget- if they put down on paper that you were fired for not taking lunch breaks, that's written proof that they didn't fulfill their requirements as an employer.
At my (cashier in Minnesota) store I struggle constantly with being scheduled for 5.75-hour shifts. This guarantees that I will have to go more than 2 hours without a break. The LOD says the rule is "first break after 2.5 hours", but, for instance, I was scheduled for a 12-4 shift with my 15-min break at 3:15. One busy day I was stuck in Guest Services with no walkie and no GSTL in sight and entirely missed my lunch. I was "coached" about that and had to sign something (that I couldn't read because I was on the lane) apparently admitting it was my fault. Once again last week I wasn't given my 30 and I was forced to log out early so I wouldn't go over 6 hours without a 30-minute lunch break. They have a skeleton staff and NEVER want people to go on break.
isn't there a phone at the till?
No. In-store communication is by walkie and the GS is supposed to have one, but we're always short. In fact, in early morning and late evening there is often only one cashier on duty with the GSTL in the office upstairs and the only means of communication is the "additional cashier" button.
So I figured what the real reason was; if I am scheduled for 6 hours, I'd only have 5 hours and 15 minutes on the clock, and it makes the employers look stupid because I had a short shift with a required meal.
The GSTL proved that to me when I was scheduled for 6 1/2 hours, she needed me to slap on 2 more hours just so the clock can be over 6 hours when I had a meal.
That's really bizarre! At my store, if you're scheduled for 6 hours you get a meal and therefore get paid 5.5 hours. It sounds like they are clearly in violation of not only Target policy but possibly state law, not to mention are completely bullshitting you. If you're scheduled for 6 hours (ex. 12-6pm), you are scheduled for 6 hours and therefore must get a meal break. In this you would get paid 5.5 hours, end of story. Logic dictates that if they really felt it's stupid to only schedule you for 6 hours and get a meal at the same time, then they'd schedule you for more than 6 hours (ex. 12-6:30pm or whatever). Try calling the Target Integrity line, and if you LEGALLY can in your state record such conversations say on your phone, tape recorder, etc. Some states are "one party consent surveillance states", meaning if a supervisor speaks with you say on something you can legally record that conversation (since you are one of the parties involved in that conversation). Other states require multiple party consent (mainly 2 parties). Start keeping track of the days in which you're scheduled for literally 6+ hours and the days where they try to scam you out of your unpaid lunch breaks. Read up on your state laws regarding meals (which as others have stated can be found on your break room wall), as well as your state's recording laws. Good luck with everything!
http://www.vegress.com/index.php/can-i-record-calls-in-my-state (this map demonstrates which states are considered one party and which ones are considered two party consent states).
I had forgotten to mention that part (the 6 1/2 hour bit) was a week prior to the actual work-day, I was fixing a day that I could not work because of the fact they scheduled me anyway [because it's not like we have 5 other people who can cover my hours or something *sarcasm*].
On the plus side; I got a last laugh on that day after the fact, because I did not let them have a closing cart attendant that night.
Gah, gotta love it when they HAVE to have you of all people come into work, as if there weren't hundreds of other ppl dying to take the shift. That's happened at my store before, no cart attendant at night. It's pretty common for no one to show for the operator shift as well. I wonder why that is.... ha ha.