I would like to get a lunch break during the day, but my employer refuses to give one to me despite the fact that I work 10 hours a day without any break. Is that legal?
By Deskin Law Firm
If you work more than five hours per day, you are entitled to a lunch break (or meal period or rest period) of at least 30 minutes. If you work 10 hours in a day, you are entitled to another 30 minute lunch break. You should also know that the law protects you if your employer decides to retaliate against you by firing you or otherwise discriminating against you after you have alerted your employer to your desire to have a lunch break and be reimbursed for lunch breaks you have not been given.
Often times it is intimidating to approach an employer who you rely on for a pay check to give you something that seems as trivial as a lunch break, but it is your right and his obligation to give it to you. To make it easier, keep in mind that there is strength in numbers. If there are a number of people who work for your employer who are not getting lunch breaks and we are able to approach your employer as a organized group, it is often easier to convince employers that it is their best interest to fix the situation rather than risk the repercussions of many of his employees being upset. You have leverage as a group that you may not have as an individual.
Having Lunch Breaks is a Right, but how do I get them?
To figure out if your discrimination situation is illegal you must determine:
1. If you are an employee protected from discrimination under the law.
2. If your employer is subject to anti-discrimination laws.
3. If your employer's conduct is considered discriminatory under the law.
4. If the reason your employer discriminate against you violates the law.