Charging for lunch breaks

[Marty McFly]

By law, your employer must give you time off to eat. Rarely in tv land does it happen. When it DOESN'T HAPPEN, it gets recorded (on the McFly timesheet anyway) as overtime.

And then... this...

Manager: Where did this hour of overtime come from?
McFly: I didn't get an hour for lunch today.
Mgr: Did you eat lunch today?
Fly: I stopped at a drive thru.
Mgr: Okay, well there's your lunch hour.
Fly: Really? Stopping for not even 5 minutes in the drive thru and eating on my way to a story equates to an hour lunch break?
Mgr: If you ate lunch, that's your lunch break.
Fly: AWESOME! Since 5 minutes equals one hour in tv land, it looks like I put in my 40 hours this week about 3 hours into my shift on Monday. See you next week for 3.33 hours!

OR...

Fly: Okay, let me see if I follow this. If I smoke for 5 minutes six times during my shift, that's not a lunch break because I'm not eating my cigarette while I'm not working. But if I chew food and swallow it for 3 and a half minutes, that instantly turns into 1 hour of not getting paid?

[Spike]

Sounds like a job for a union.

[Marty McFly]

Unfortunately, yes.

[Spike]

Originally posted by Marty McFly:
Unfortunately, yes.No way! Did Marty just admit that a union might actually be useful to workers being cheated? Unbelievable!

[Produce man]

This is why I'm glad I'm on salary.

[Tripe Face]

Originally posted by Marty McFly:
By law, your employer must give you time off to eat. Rarely in tv land does it happen. When it DOESN'T HAPPEN, it gets recorded (on the McFly timesheet anyway) as overtime.

And then... this...

Manager: Where did this hour of overtime come from?
McFly: I didn't get an hour for lunch today.
Mgr: Did you eat lunch today?
Fly: I stopped at a drive thru.
Mgr: Okay, well there's your lunch hour.
Fly: Really? Stopping for not even 5 minutes in the drive thru and eating on my way to a story equates to an hour lunch break?
Mgr: If you ate lunch, that's your lunch break.
Fly: AWESOME! Since 5 minutes equals one hour in tv land, it looks like I put in my 40 hours this week about 3 hours into my shift on Monday. See you next week for 3.33 hours!

OR...

Fly: Okay, let me see if I follow this. If I smoke for 5 minutes six times during my shift, that's not a lunch break because I'm not eating my cigarette while I'm not working. But if I chew food and swallow it for 3 and a half minutes, that instantly turns into 1 hour of not getting paid?If you don't get your full time to enjoy your lunch... tell your boss you didn't eat "Lunch".

If he presses the matter, say you grabbed a snack to keep from passing out and ate it while working.

If he's still being a walking penis about the matter, contact whatever state agency enforces labor laws.

[News Is Broken]

You know what I hate? I hate when you get behind some retard on the freeway that is going 20 MPH in the fast lane. What the hell? Speed up you jackass!

Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.

[Marty McFly]

Originally posted by Spike:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Marty McFly:
Unfortunately, yes.No way! Did Marty just admit that a union might actually be useful to workers being cheated? Unbelievable!</font>[/QUOTE]Yes, it's unfortunate that a 3rd party would have to intervene to make sure rules get followed.

[Marty McFly]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.How did you get that out of 'Charging for lunch breaks?'

[RollTide98]

Originally posted by Produce man:
This is why I'm glad I'm on salary.So apparently you don't get called in a lot...

Paid for 40 hours. Work 50 to 60.

[newz2me]

No one says your one hour unpaid time off in the middle of the day has to be used for lunch. The bottom line is it is your hour and you can do whatever you want during that hour. Eat lunch, surf the net, run errands, even sleep. It's your hour and it's unpaid. If you are doing anything that isn't "me" time, even driving 70 mph while eating a sandwich that is not a break. Lunch is also not cumulative sitting 5 minutes here, ten minutes there around waiting for the reporter to get their act together doesn't add up to a 1 hour lunch.
If you dare and have balls of steel, tell him you will put down your 5 minute lunch break but you'll have to charge time on the clock for when your setting out your next days work clothes each day and the 45 minutes each night that you're sitting in front of the TV doing research and planning out next day's work. :D

[Pinkie]

My old station threatened to take an hour out of our paychecks each day, whether or not we got a lunch break. Apparently they didn't realize that most field crews ate in their cars on the way to a story nor did they see the producers eating at their desks everyday. graemlins/face_banghead.gif

[ May 24, 2007, 05:28 PM: Message edited by: Pinkie ]

[News Is Broken]

Originally posted by Marty McFly:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by News Is Broken:
Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.How did you get that out of 'Charging for lunch breaks?'</font>[/QUOTE]Because we all pretty much work through our lunches and don't get paid for them, Marty. That's called working in Corporate America. Just be glad you get overtime - if you're salaried you not only get screwed over for your lunch hour each day but about 10-15 hours a week in OT as well!

If you really want your "hour" then add up all the time you spend at work surfing the web and posting to Medialine. I'm sure it's in there, and then some.

[jrat33]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Marty McFly:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by News Is Broken:
Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.How did you get that out of 'Charging for lunch breaks?'</font>[/QUOTE]Because we all pretty much work through our lunches and don't get paid for them, Marty. That's called working in Corporate America. Just be glad you get overtime - if you're salaried you not only get screwed over for your lunch hour each day but about 10-15 hours a week in OT as well!

If you really want your "hour" then add up all the time you spend at work surfing the web and posting to Medialine. I'm sure it's in there, and then some.</font>[/QUOTE]Incorrect. Try to pull that "charging you for not taking your lunch time" crap in the corporate world, and watch the lawsuits roll in. TV people have to grow some balls and start calling their employers on this kind of stuff, or it will continue to happen.

And it would be one thing if TV people made a decent salary. Then I could see skipping a lunch hour, but not for 24k a year.

Fight for your rights!

[SpxGrunt]

It's completely unfair, but without any backup, it's hard to fight it. Since I keep my own timecard, I make sure I "adjust" for those lunch breaks I never got.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
You know what I hate? I hate when you get behind some retard on the freeway that is going 20 MPH in the fast lane. What the hell? Speed up you jackass!

Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.Oh OH OHHHH. I got one. When people talk on their cell phones at the dinner table. graemlins/face_banghead.gif

[Produce man]

Originally posted by RollTide98:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Produce man:
This is why I'm glad I'm on salary.So apparently you don't get called in a lot...

Paid for 40 hours. Work 50 to 60.</font>[/QUOTE]Actually, I don't. But when I am called in, I get comp time.

[the original buttongod]

Way back in the late '70's, I was working for a small market radio station, on salary. I had a two hour lunch break (I know..cushy-not in Beloit, Kansas) The GM got all pi$$y because I got my hair cut during my lunch period. I got out of there in a hurry.

[Spike]

Originally posted by Pinkie:
My old station threatened to take an hour out of our paychecks each day, whether or not we got a lunch break. Doing that would be illegal, and managers who make those threats often know it. If they could legally adjust your timecards, they wouldn't threaten you about it. They would just do it. The threat is simply a means to intimidate you into working for free.

If they actually do adjust your timecard, and your paycheck doesn't match your hours worked, keep careful records and call your state's labor department. An inquiry from them will likely put a stop to it.

I had a manager threaten that once with the photogs. One of them politely informed him that it would be illegal to actually follow through on the threat. He stopped threatening us.

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
Because we all pretty much work through our lunches and don't get paid for them, Marty. That's called working in Corporate America. Then you are a sucker. If you take a break of less than 20 minutes, your employer is required by federal law to pay you for it. This is outlined in DOL Wage & Hour Division Fact Sheet #22 (http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs22.htm):

Rest and Meal Periods: Rest periods of short duration, usually 20 minutes or less, are common in industry (and promote the efficiency of the employee) and are customarily paid for as working time. These short periods must be counted as hours worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished. Bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more) generally need not be compensated as work time. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. The employee is not relieved if he/she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. It astounds me that you management suckups are so eager to work for free, when you have the legal right to get paid.

[The Mockingbird]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
You know what I hate? I hate when you get behind some retard on the freeway that is going 20 MPH in the fast lane. What the hell? Speed up you jackass!

Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.I had a lovely meal at the Capitol Grille Monday afternoon, I think it lasted about an hour and a half.

[Roy Hobbs]

Boy the next thing you know some unscrupulous station will claim you falsified your timesheet to illegally void your two year contract...

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/4b/KTVA06.jpg

graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif

[mothball]

What's a lunch break?

I do get paid straight through for my hours at work. But since I regularly work 10 hours every day without lunch (yeah, I tend to pack a thermos of tea and a piece of homemade sweet bread or banana nut loaf) or time to do anything but my job...

thank God I'm *not* on salary!

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Marty McFly:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by News Is Broken:
Oh. Sorry, I thought the topic of this thread was "piss and moan about something you will always have to deal with for the rest of your life". Carry on.How did you get that out of 'Charging for lunch breaks?'</font>[/QUOTE]Because we all pretty much work through our lunches and don't get paid for them, Marty. That's called working in Corporate America. Just be glad you get overtime - if you're salaried you not only get screwed over for your lunch hour each day but about 10-15 hours a week in OT as well!</font>[/QUOTE]I charge 1 hour OT for my "no lunches".

But I'll tell you what ... I'd gladly exchange that for the "salaried" deals my CORPORATE friends have ... where they actually get to *eat lunch* ... on their LUNCH HOUR (or 90 minutes, or 2 hours, depending on how they structure their days) ... at lunch TIME ... during their Monday through Friday, 9-to-5, weekends and holidays off jobs that pay CORPORATE salaries ... with BONUSES at the end of the year!

[ May 24, 2007, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: TVMattNYC ]

[Omega Man]

There are pros and cons for both. I LIKE being salaried because I don't have to worry about a clock. Punching in, punching out, do I have 40 yet, if I get OT is management going to freak, etc.
I HATE being salaried because I work 10-12 hour days and come in on weekends if needed but get paid for 40. There's a reason I'm not on the clock.

[Marty McFly]

One station where I used to work came up with an idea on how to NOT pay for the lunch breaks that staff didn't get... but still pay them. It was a ROYAL screwing.

Rather than pay someone the 13 bucks an hour they were SUPPOSED to get... they REDUCED the person's hourly wage to say, 9 bucks but would give them ONE HOUR of overtime every day to compensate for it.

At 13 an hour, it's 104 a day.
At 9 (or whatever it is) an hour PLUS the 1 hour of overtime, it would still be 104 a day.

The difference is you have to work 9 hours instead of 8 to get it.

And instead of your overtime rate being 19.50 an hour, it was only 13.50.

Criminal.

[LENSCRAFTER]

I'm on Marty's side on this one... it sucks. But I am old school I suppose.

When I was reporting... if you covered a story outside the city limits... the station PAID for your lunch. It was routine to turn in your lunch receipts every two weeks.

My how times have changed.

[Ferrycrossthemersey]

Was talking to an ABC network shooter the other day, and as we were reminiscing about the good old days, the talk turned to the power of unions, then and now. Back then, he'd get an hour for his meal, and if for some reason was made to work even the last 5-minutes of that hour, he earned an enormous meal penalty.

Now, he says, he is given an OTE...union-speak for Opportunity To Eat, and that can be a drive-thru and that's considered good enough...

[Spike]

Originally posted by Ferrycrossthemersey:
Was talking to an ABC network shooter the other day, and as we were reminiscing about the good old days, the talk turned to the power of unions, then and now. Back then, he'd get an hour for his meal, and if for some reason was made to work even the last 5-minutes of that hour, he earned an enormous meal penalty.

Now, he says, he is given an OTE...union-speak for Opportunity To Eat, and that can be a drive-thru and that's considered good enough...Not sure who you were talking to, but ABC is NABET, and their contract stipulates that if they don't get an actual lunch break they get a $40 meal penalty, plus every hour they continue without the break after a certain number of hours at work they get a .5 hour penalty added on. That includes eating while on the job; if they hit a drive through and eat in the car, they still get the penalties.

They may not actually get a lunch break. But if they don't, they get paid extra for it.

[Signature on File]

Where's LUNCH PENALTY when you need him?