I work at a skilled Nursing Facility. Just a little background. I am currently on disability due to a work related injury. My employer told me to expect to be terminated when I come back to work.
My question is about lunch breaks. On many occassions, I worked through my lunch break. On some of those occassions I did not clock out. A lot of times, I clocked out but worked through lunch anyways. On the occassions that I didnt clock out, my employer deducted the time from my paycheck anyways . On the payroll reports, the payroll manager circled the "hours worked", deducted 30 minutes, and adjusted the hours. Do I have any recourse? I dont make a lot of money. Would it be worth it to persue?

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smearcase

You need to talk to a lawyer.

Lowtax4eva

You should have spoken with your manager before doing this. If you dont take your break they have no way of knowing you didnt take it so they probably decucted the 30 minutes each day assuming you forgot to clock out.

You should check also if your even allowed to do this, some states require that you take a 30 minute break, unpaid, your the one who decided not to use it a few days.

These states require meal periods (meaning you are not allowed to work during lunch for extra pay): California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia.

Lunch, Break, and Hour Laws You Should Know « Legal Andrew

twinkiedooter

If the employer terminates you when you come back due to your being off from work due to your disability. That is illegal and you can pursue suit against them for that.

The business of a lunch break was explained above but the 30 minutes mandatory is not correct. You should have clocked out for lunch and then took lunch. You just basically gave your employer your time for free as there is nothing you can do now unless you got prior approval to do this practice. You noticed something was wrong but you didn't ask anyone about it but just kept on doing this. Please don't assume that other people know what you are doing - especially when it comes to paying people correct amounts for hours actually worked. The employer may have had a strcit no overtime policy and essentially you were not adhering to it with the 30 mintes here and 30 minutes there costing them money.

JudyKayTee

And some employers mandate that you take a lunch break or other break - if you do not you can be dismissed for violation of company rules.

Also agree with the 100% overtime statement. I managed a firm and was presented with a statement from a receptionist who cut her lunch short by 15 minutes every day for quite some time and suddenly expected to be paid for the time - unauthorized, against policy, lunch and breaks were scheduled because people needed to walk away, take a break. She did not collect and she was not happy.

shygrneyzs

I used to work in hospitals and we were always docked our half hour lunch period, even though we could be called out during lunch for an emergency room call or a code - many times we did not even get to eat the lunch. So our department did some checking and found out we had to be paid for that half hour, since we were considered "on call" during that time and could not leave the hospital.

Please contact an attorney versed in employment law. Or call your state's Labor Department. Good luck.

excon

Hello maria:

Whether you should or shouldn't have been paid for your time during lunch is academic now, because you forfeited your rights to claim it. IF you were unhappy with the situation when it happened, you would have brought it up then.

There's a concept in the law with some fancy Latin name that I can't remember off hand, but it says that if you are presented with a situation where your rights are being violated, and you DON'T do anything about it right away, you can't do anything about it later.

excon

Fr_Chuck

Most places I have worked because of laws requreing employees to take breaks require them to take a lunch, i have actually written up employees and gave them warnings for not taking thier breaks.

So if they require you to take a lunch, you have to take it, and if you disobey, they often have rules that your lunch will be deducted out.
The last place I worked, you did not have to clock in and out for lunch, but it was automaticly deducted form your days work

maria2day

Thanks for all of your responses. Just a little clarification. I did not choose to work through my lunches and breaks. I work in a medical facility. I skipped lunch breaks either because a crisis was going on, or we were woefully understaffed. When I brought up the issue to my supervisor, I was told that I could be written up(like FR_Chuck said) for not taking lunch breaks. I explained why I hadnt taken lunches, she said, it doesnt matter whether you take lunch or not, you still have to clock in and out. Do you suppose I would be written up if I said, "What? the patient fell? Sorry, cant help ya. Im eating my lunch."?

JudyKayTee

So in theory you are supposed to leave the floor (and a sick patient), wander off, clock out, go back to the patient, wander off, clock back in - ?

This sounds a little bizarre when Nurses often work 12 and 14 hour shifts -

Is there a written policy?