[aflygal]

I am searching for the law pertaining to Florida breaks and lunch breaks for at will employees. Thank you

[Fr_Chuck]

Florida has no laws for those over 18

Florida Lunch and Break Law - Labor Law Center Blog

[twinkiedooter]

Florida does not have to give you any break time or any lunch time. It's totally at the discretion of the employer what they give you (if any). I never had any break time when I worked in Florida and my lunch time could be 30 minutes or 60 minutes depending on the employer.

[normasantiago]

Can I get force to take an unpaid lunch for a 4 and a half hours long shift? I only work about 16 to 20 hours per week and they want me to take a meal on these short shift.

[PellMell]

normasantiago, look at the link above that Fr_Chuck provided. It is an excellent, authoritative discussion of the current topic. As far as your question is concerned, be very careful what demands you make on your employer. Florida is a right-to-work state, so except for a few exceptions, your employer can terminate you at will.

[JudyKayTee]

This is piggybacked to a thread that is two years old.

But FrChuck was correct and does not need me to repeat what he said or agree with him - BUT unfortunately that post will be lost when this is moved.

Here is FrChuck's site again: Labor Law Center Blog Blog Archive Florida Lunch and Break Law

[josho]

Im a student in a school, and I do class work in the school from 7:30am-4:15pm and I only get a 15 minute lunch break Shouldn't we have at least 30-45 minutes of lunch? We work for 8 hours and 30 minutes. We should at least get a 30 minute break right?

[AK lawyer]

Im a student in a school, and I do class work in the school from 7:30am-4:15pm and I only get a 15 minute lunch break Shouldn't we have at least 30-45 minutes of lunch? We work for 8 hours and 30 minutes. We should at least get a 30 minute break right?

Depends on what state you are in.

Readers of this entire thread will know that Florida doesn't require a break, but your state may be different.

[JudyKayTee]

Im a student in a school, and I do class work in the school from 7:30am-4:15pm and I only get a 15 minute lunch break Shouldn't we have at least 30-45 minutes of lunch? We work for 8 hours and 30 minutes. We should at least get a 30 minute break right?

You are a student, not an employee? Right?

There is a difference between working and being an employee and studying and being a student.

I find no State that specifies lunch breaks for students. Where are you?

[josho]

I live in Florida.

[JudyKayTee]

I asked if you are an employee or a student. It matters.

[jitisballin]

Okay I'm live in Florida I work at zaxbys, I'm 16 and last two days I've worked 6 -7 hour shifts no break. I looked online aren't I, required by law, allowed 30 minutes of break time during work each 4 hours? During that break do they have to pay me? Can they reject that law to me and possible fire me?

[JudyKayTee]

The law is: "The U.S. Department of Labor does not have any regulations as to 30-minute lunch breaks, as they are not considered to be working time. An employer is not required by law to pay for lunch breaks, and they are generally not paid for in all states, unless an employer decides otherwise. In the state of Florida, most employers do grant 30-minute lunch breaks for shifts that are 6 to 8 hours."

Florida is an employment at will State - you can be fired for anything or nothing, just because they don't want you working there any longer.

Where on line did you see that you ARE entitled to a lunch break?

[jitisballin]

http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4697&page=1

that's a dissapointment, so they don't have to give me a break?

[JudyKayTee]

http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4697&page=1

thats a dissapointment, so they dont have to give me a break?

That thread is on another Q&A site and it's from 2005 - 6 years ago. I quoted the law as I found it.

Hopefully someone from Florida will come along and correct me if I am wrong.

Ask your employer or call your local Wage and Hour and ask them.

Please come back and let me know.

[jitisballin]

Sorry, ask for what? And what's "call your local wage and hour" mean. I'm dumb

[JudyKayTee]

sorry, ask for what? and whats "call your local wage and hour" mean. im dumb

Ask your employer what the law is about breaks -

And if you look in your telephone book your State has a Wage and Hour Board which can answer this question 100% accurately.

[crazy12332432]

Quick question - let's say a Florida employer grants a 30 minute lunch break every day. But they don't pay employees for the lunch break. That's pretty standard. However, they also don't let employees "clock out" for the break without permission - if employees clock out for lunch without getting permission from their supervisor, they get written up. The implications of not being clocked out are that the employer can then require the employees to stay on the premises during the lunch break, because "on the clock" employees can get written up for leaving the work site without permission. So they exert some control over employees during their lunch break (you can't go next door to have lunch with your kid unless your boss is feeling benevolent and allows you to clock out - in that sense the unpaid time isn't yours). At the end of the week, for every day you didn't clock out for lunch, they just delete 30 minutes from the total time you were clocked in (and they also don't bother to check to find out if you really took the break or it was interrupted because they found you onsite and asked you to handle an emergency during your lunch break, something that happens often). Is that legal in Florida? Isn't this just a way of stealing unpaid time from employees? If you aren't paying someone for the time, are you allowed to discipline them for clocking out, make them stay clocked in, and exert control over where they can go during the unpaid time so you can find them and ask them to work if you want to?