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Question: How many breaks at work are required by law?

Answer: State Laws usually mandate when employers must give you "rest periods" or breaks. How much and when depends mostly on the discretion of the employer, but there are some legal protections.

There is no federal law that gives you meal or rest breaks. However, states sometimes have labor laws which mandate time off for meals (like a lunch break) or for a rest break (perhaps a mid-afternoon break). Further, labor unions oftentimes have specific contracts that explicitly mandate time for breaks. Whether or not you can get paid during breaks depends on your employer and on the same state labor laws.


Comments
36 thru 40 of 92 comments
On 06/15/05
Steve Williams from TN said:
The Tennessee laws are the reason why this state is decreasing in money and why more people like myself are in a hurry to get out. ps. (the lunch and no break laws suck; its rediculous) I work 58 hours a week with no breaks but a 30 min lunch; WOW!!!!
On 06/05/05
Megan from AR said:
I work at a local grocery store where the cashiers get a 15 min break for 4 hrs of wrk if they remember. i wrk in the Customer Srv and i wrk 6 hr days with no breaks my manager says you sit down when you slow down. is that legal? i want my 15 mins to rest and not have to get up when a customer needs to be waited on.
On 03/15/05
Rhonda from TN said:
I work for a factory in Georgia 12 hour shift the only way we get a break is if we make one is this legal.
On 02/21/05
David from TX said:
My fiancee works in a Dr.'s office. She works 8 to 8.5 hours a day. She is not allowed a break and sometimes she is not allowed a lunch. If her provider works through lunch she has to as well. Furtermore, there was an instance where she has accumulated overtime. At no point in time was she told she could not worko overtime or that she would not get paid for it. The office called a meeting before paid day to tell the employees who had overtime that they would not receive it. Is this legal?
On 11/14/04
Holly from TX said:
I work at a sonic in Austin. This is a completely stand up and run all day job. There is not one place to sit in the whole store ( except the managers chair ). I work any where from 6 to 9.5 hours a day, six days a week. I'm only supposed to get one THREE minute break a day to smoke a cigarette, and thats it. Is this legal??
36 thru 40 of 92 comments



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