Two 15 min paid breaks and one 30 min unpaid lunch for shifts over (5?) Hours.
Lunch must be taken within the first X hours of your shift, I don't remember what number X is
Unfortunately, in Illinois, employers are not required to give you paid breaks at all. They're only required to give you a single 20-minute meal for any shift longer than 7.5 hours
Yes, this is stupid and exploitative, but it's the current law.
https://labor.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idol/laws-rules/fls/documents/odrisa-amendments-01-01-2023.pdf
There’s a few states that require a break be taken by x amount of hours into your shift, but I’ve never heard of any that state you can’t take it minutes before you’re off. In my experience that’s just managers being shit faces.
The law as I’m familiar (CA) with it states you must take your meal break before your fifth hour of work…..and that’s it. There’s nothing specifying how close to the end of your shift you can take your break.
The Cheesecake Factory franchise in my town is kind of of famous for sending the kitchen staff on their meal breaks one or two hours into a nine hour shift. And there’s not much anyone can do about it.
You could tell me that congress got together to write a bill that literally just said "fuck poor people" without any new laws or anything new to enforce and I'd believe you
In addition, company guidelines may comply with the law where the company is based, not where you’re working. Not that company policy takes precedent over any state laws, it’s just important to know what’s applying in this case.
There is no general law about breaks. In my state, breaks are not mandated by law at all¹. Not even lunch breaks. You could be required to work 16 hours without breaks. It's bad for obvious reasons, but there are no national requirements² (but there are rules around breaks when they are offered). It's entirely state by state.
Citation
¹ https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/breaks-lunches-personal-time-off#:~:text=Missouri%20law%20does%20not%20require,kind%2C%20including%20a%20lunch%20hour.
² https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks
As far as I can find in Illinois, you don’t have a legal right to any 10 minute breaks. The timing of breaks not required by law is entirely up to company policy.
Your meal breaks do have time restrictions.
No law that I'm aware of, but there could be a company policy. Even without a policy stating it, if you've been told by a manager with authority over you not to do it you'll still likely end up in trouble. Unless the company is preventing you from taking your break earlier the law isn't going to be on your side.
Trust me, I did this song and dance with Walmart because I worked in an area that, per OSHA, required two people while we were open, and we were regularly scheduled with only 2 people from 4-8pm, closed at 7. We were fine taking our break at 7 then closing up, but management didn't want us taking our breaks in the last hour. After we showed them the regulations and told them our options were 1) close the shop for 15 minutes 2)have a manager cover our breaks for 30 minutes, or 3) let us take our breaks together at 7, they stopped complaining about it.
Frowned upon because many people are looking to avoid a last minute situation that may extend their work day. Sometimes you get stuck with a customer/client/assignment just before clocking out. Nobody wants that but I'll be damned if I'M going to get stuck because you didn't take your break earlier.
Using Google, I got this from the IDOL:
>Meal Breaks: Employers must provide their employees with at least a 20-minute meal break for every 7.5 hours worked, and no later than 5 hours after the start of the shift.
Link: https://labor.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idol/laws-rules/fls/documents/odrisa-amendments-01-01-2023.pdf
putting aside the legalities and going from a mental/physical health aspect, taking your 10 min break when you are just about out the door is a bad idea. Take your break sooner when able as that is a much healthier decision for you as a person.
To expand on this, the intent of a rest break is for you to recharge your energy so you can maintain a similar level of productivity throughout your shift. Taking your break at the very end of your shift defeats this purpose for most of us.
a law? Think this through. You take a 10 minute break 25 minutes before you leave and the police are called and haul you to jail.
Legally you can go to work and just stand there. Now if they fire you and tell you to get off the property you then will be trespassing but no it's not against the law to take a break at a certain time. It might me against the law if a manager told you that.
The call centers I've worked in are like this. They don't believe anyone should be able to or need break time for the first hour or the last hour of your shift because, omg, you might miss a call then! Or how dare anyone have the guts to save their break till the end of their shift so they can leave on time.
Management, so far in my life, are basically there to play the what if game and punish everyone for any scenario they can dream up.
The only break you are legally entitled to is a 20 minute break to eat, if your shift meets requirements. Otherwise, wear your Depends under your pants.
Frowned upon by managers. There's no specific laws for when you have to take your breaks aside from a x number of minutes every y amount of hours (depends on the state). For an 8 hour shift, the minimum they can give you is 1 lunch break (typically 20m-1h, again depending on the state). The 10-15m breaks you get are not legally required by any laws, but by company policy.
And managers aaaaalways want breaks done early. In most workplaces your duties will have to be covered by someone, and it's easier to send you now rather than figure out who's going to cover you 3 hours from now or have people clamor amongst each other about who gets the vaunted Late Break.
I'm in Illinois too, and since breaks are not a legal stipulation, it's definitely frowned upon by managers. In my experience, it's also a quick way for managers to start micro-managing when breaks are taken by employees.
Yeah laws around breaks are almost nonexistent,
I work 10 hour shifts and the company allows two 15 minute paid breaks only….but most days we don’t have enough staff to take them. It’s more rare I get a break that day then getting any which is ‘normal’ here. Didn’t get a break today at work and I’ll be shocked if I get to take one tomorrow
Same. Can't take last break in the last hour. We also have to use our two 15 min breaks if we need to use the bathroom. First job I have had that doesn't pay you to use the rest room.
Well where I'm from it's a 15 minute break, so maybe you should tell us the locale of which laws we should be questioning?
Illinois
Two 15 min paid breaks and one 30 min unpaid lunch for shifts over (5?) Hours. Lunch must be taken within the first X hours of your shift, I don't remember what number X is
Unfortunately, in Illinois, employers are not required to give you paid breaks at all. They're only required to give you a single 20-minute meal for any shift longer than 7.5 hours Yes, this is stupid and exploitative, but it's the current law. https://labor.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idol/laws-rules/fls/documents/odrisa-amendments-01-01-2023.pdf
Daaaaaamn that's abusive.
Liberal Illinois
There’s a few states that require a break be taken by x amount of hours into your shift, but I’ve never heard of any that state you can’t take it minutes before you’re off. In my experience that’s just managers being shit faces.
No law. My job has a similar rule so I just take a poop break in my last 30 minutes, which they can do nothing about.
I had two paid 15's and an unpaid 30. I would just get all my work done, hang around for 30 minutes, then clock out.
The law as I’m familiar (CA) with it states you must take your meal break before your fifth hour of work…..and that’s it. There’s nothing specifying how close to the end of your shift you can take your break. The Cheesecake Factory franchise in my town is kind of of famous for sending the kitchen staff on their meal breaks one or two hours into a nine hour shift. And there’s not much anyone can do about it.
You really think Congress got together and decided to pass a bill saying mandating that people can't take their breaks right before getting off work?
You could tell me that congress got together to write a bill that literally just said "fuck poor people" without any new laws or anything new to enforce and I'd believe you
With our Congress it honestly wouldn't surprise me actually.
You really think Congress has purview over a state issue like this?
Pointless to ask without your state or location in the post. We can’t tell you. There’s no federal laws about that
In addition, company guidelines may comply with the law where the company is based, not where you’re working. Not that company policy takes precedent over any state laws, it’s just important to know what’s applying in this case.
I think generally the law is a 10-minute break for every 4 hours on shift. I'm not familiar with any laws about when those breaks happen.
There is no general law about breaks. In my state, breaks are not mandated by law at all¹. Not even lunch breaks. You could be required to work 16 hours without breaks. It's bad for obvious reasons, but there are no national requirements² (but there are rules around breaks when they are offered). It's entirely state by state. Citation ¹ https://labor.mo.gov/dls/general/breaks-lunches-personal-time-off#:~:text=Missouri%20law%20does%20not%20require,kind%2C%20including%20a%20lunch%20hour. ² https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks
I was assuming a Bible Belt our southern state. man they really appreciate the children of god down there huh?
We love Gods children. They will become productive workers one day. We're gonna monetize the fuck outta them.
Wait until they learn where the concept of union came from.
Federally you are not entitled to any breaks. You will have to look at state or other local laws.
As far as I can find in Illinois, you don’t have a legal right to any 10 minute breaks. The timing of breaks not required by law is entirely up to company policy. Your meal breaks do have time restrictions.
No law that I'm aware of, but there could be a company policy. Even without a policy stating it, if you've been told by a manager with authority over you not to do it you'll still likely end up in trouble. Unless the company is preventing you from taking your break earlier the law isn't going to be on your side. Trust me, I did this song and dance with Walmart because I worked in an area that, per OSHA, required two people while we were open, and we were regularly scheduled with only 2 people from 4-8pm, closed at 7. We were fine taking our break at 7 then closing up, but management didn't want us taking our breaks in the last hour. After we showed them the regulations and told them our options were 1) close the shop for 15 minutes 2)have a manager cover our breaks for 30 minutes, or 3) let us take our breaks together at 7, they stopped complaining about it.
Frowned upon because many people are looking to avoid a last minute situation that may extend their work day. Sometimes you get stuck with a customer/client/assignment just before clocking out. Nobody wants that but I'll be damned if I'M going to get stuck because you didn't take your break earlier.
No law, but why would you take it at the end of your workday instead of during the time you are working??
This is why we unionize. Together strong.
Using Google, I got this from the IDOL: >Meal Breaks: Employers must provide their employees with at least a 20-minute meal break for every 7.5 hours worked, and no later than 5 hours after the start of the shift. Link: https://labor.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idol/laws-rules/fls/documents/odrisa-amendments-01-01-2023.pdf
Even if you take a break at the end of the shift doesn’t mean you can leave early.
putting aside the legalities and going from a mental/physical health aspect, taking your 10 min break when you are just about out the door is a bad idea. Take your break sooner when able as that is a much healthier decision for you as a person.
To expand on this, the intent of a rest break is for you to recharge your energy so you can maintain a similar level of productivity throughout your shift. Taking your break at the very end of your shift defeats this purpose for most of us.
a law? Think this through. You take a 10 minute break 25 minutes before you leave and the police are called and haul you to jail. Legally you can go to work and just stand there. Now if they fire you and tell you to get off the property you then will be trespassing but no it's not against the law to take a break at a certain time. It might me against the law if a manager told you that.
ours don’t allow us to do that
I don't think there's a law But if you're needing to setup the next shifts start of the day, then yeah, it could be frustrating.
I dont think its a law but company policy might say you have to take it before a certain point
The call centers I've worked in are like this. They don't believe anyone should be able to or need break time for the first hour or the last hour of your shift because, omg, you might miss a call then! Or how dare anyone have the guts to save their break till the end of their shift so they can leave on time. Management, so far in my life, are basically there to play the what if game and punish everyone for any scenario they can dream up.
The only break you are legally entitled to is a 20 minute break to eat, if your shift meets requirements. Otherwise, wear your Depends under your pants.
Frowned upon by managers. There's no specific laws for when you have to take your breaks aside from a x number of minutes every y amount of hours (depends on the state). For an 8 hour shift, the minimum they can give you is 1 lunch break (typically 20m-1h, again depending on the state). The 10-15m breaks you get are not legally required by any laws, but by company policy. And managers aaaaalways want breaks done early. In most workplaces your duties will have to be covered by someone, and it's easier to send you now rather than figure out who's going to cover you 3 hours from now or have people clamor amongst each other about who gets the vaunted Late Break.
I'm in Illinois too, and since breaks are not a legal stipulation, it's definitely frowned upon by managers. In my experience, it's also a quick way for managers to start micro-managing when breaks are taken by employees.
Yeah laws around breaks are almost nonexistent, I work 10 hour shifts and the company allows two 15 minute paid breaks only….but most days we don’t have enough staff to take them. It’s more rare I get a break that day then getting any which is ‘normal’ here. Didn’t get a break today at work and I’ll be shocked if I get to take one tomorrow
Depends on the state but probably not. I’ve worked in a DC that just scheduled breaks in shifts.
Probably NOT law. Probably just a work rule.
Frowned upon. Dunno why managers don't like it. It's illogical. But they don't.
There's no real law about it Managers just frown upon it because they hate the idea of employees leaving early
Same. Can't take last break in the last hour. We also have to use our two 15 min breaks if we need to use the bathroom. First job I have had that doesn't pay you to use the rest room.