State law requires employers to provide employees with restroom time and sufficient time to eat a meal. If the break is less than 20 minutes in duration, it must be counted as hours worked. Time to use the nearest restroom must be provided within each four consecutive hours of work.
Doesn't my employer have to give me a break? The state law requires employers to provide restroom time and sufficient time to eat a meal. If the break is less than 20 minutes in duration, it must be counted as hours worked.
In the US it varies by state. There is no federal law that requires an employer to give you any breaks. Federal law only states guidelines for IF they give you a break. Most states have no laws either (although a few do). So this means, yep, an employer can make you work any number of hours with no break.
Yes, you can bring a legal claim associated with the employer not providing you with a reasonable opportunity to take your meal or rest periods.
For an 8-hour work shift, employees are entitled to a minimum 20-minute uninterrupted break if they work more than six hours. The break should not be taken at the beginning or end of the shift, and employees must be allowed to take it away from their workstation.
In most states, breaks are required by law. The employer has to, by law, enforce that employees take those breaks. If they fail to do so, it opens them up to very expensive lawsuits. I recall a decade or two back, The Gap has a massive settlement in the state of California over employees working through breaks.
Yes, you can bring a legal claim associated with the employer not providing you with a reasonable opportunity to take your meal or rest periods.
If HR won't help you, go to your local labor board and report them. And if you do go to your local labor board, talk to a lawyer and let them know what's going on. Also, try and take your 30-minute breaks to show that you're following the law or at least trying to. Plus, it'll give you more evidence against your boss.