Can a company force you to take a lunch that you do not want.

Thanks
Jmcg

Most states have laws regarding employee breaks and they typically do enforce those laws to make sure that no one sues them for not enforcing labor laws.

Depends, are you trying to work through lunch and leave early / go in later? They could say no to that, if not I'm not sure.

It depends on your age yes in some states if you are under 18 the state requires you to take breakes after so many hours if you are over 18 then yes again to prevent overtime.

Well, I think that certain companies require people to eat while at work, for health reasons, however if you've brought your own lunch, I don't see what theproblem is!

I worked in a factory for 13 years and we had to take lunch breaks because of the laws. Believe me these sweat shops would make you work through your break if they could get away with it. Yes you have to take a lunch break. I believ that we had to take at least 15 minutes ofit.

Yes they can. We had that situation here, you get a 30 min lunch taken from your time if you take one or not. The law here was there had to be a break.

The laws are there to protect employees from being manipulated and overworked. Whether you eat or rest or read a book or go outside and sit under a tree for that lunch break, that should be how you decide. While no one can force you to actually eat, the lunch break is following the law.