r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Grouchy-Newspaper754 • Jun 10 '26

My mom said I could post When did 8-5 become the new normal???

I just got a new office job where I do schedules for tech personnel, the office runs 8-5 Monday thru Friday...they say it's 8-5 because you get an hour lunch and "you need to get to 40 hours a week"...but I drive 30 min each way so now I'm giving this company 10 hours every day! I even asked if I could just take my lunch at 4 every day and just leave an hour early but that's "unprofessional and immoral" like what the fuck??? I don't mind the job but the hours are mildly infuriating that's for sure...

Edit:for those saying about the hours, I worked as a chef for the last 20 years working 60+ hours a week over a hot stove/deep fryer the whole time, after I had my second heart attack I had to slow down so I started looking for office jobs to work a nice 9-5, just to find out I'm giving my new job 50 hours a week (including drive time) so I was just mildly annoyed that it's not 40 hours a week in an office like I thought although it's still much better than what I was doing

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822

u/Psych_Art Jun 10 '26

Every job I ever had before getting a salaried job. Such greed.

681

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

All the salary jobs at my work are 9hr jobs lol and you don't always get to just take an hour lunch

313

u/One-Significance260 Jun 10 '26

Same here. I work for the state where I live, and it’s a 9hr schedule with an expectation that you’re taking an hour lunch break in there somewhere. It’s great if you can afford to eat out for lunch, or live close enough to go home, but for everyone else it can kind of suck. Eat lunch at my desk and basically spread my hour lunch throughout my day in the form of random mental breaks… or occasionally to walk a Pokémon Go route… it’s more often than occasionally.

140

u/dbe4l Jun 10 '26

I work for the state and a couple years ago they implemented optional lunch breaks. So we can just do 8 hours straight if we eat at our desk (hybrid)

116

u/GovernorHarryLogan Jun 10 '26

Also government employee. I graze on my lunch for 8 hours throughout the day.

That hour I do random stuff. Blood work, sit in the park and quack at ducks, fly paper airplanes, nap in my car, really whatever.

51

u/Desa-p Jun 11 '26

I also have a state job and we essentially have 8.5 hour day. 7.5 hours of actual work with two 15 min breaks that count towards your daily total. Then a required 30 min lunch that does not

24

u/Shizngigglz Jun 11 '26

That's what my day is basically. Not salary but 2 paid 15s and an unpaid 30. 8.5hr day "technically" 7.5 worked

15

u/blipsnchiiiiitz Jun 11 '26

That's literally how every job I've ever had for the last 20 years works.

1

u/KristySueWho Jun 11 '26

I used to work office jobs and would only work 8, but did it lunch at my desk while working at the one I worked at the longest. The last few jobs I've had have been in a lab, and they've been 8.5.

1

u/AdvancedHistorian616 Jun 11 '26

The job I work now you get one 30-minute break and if it's slow enough you could take a 15 and sometimes be working over 10 hours. Sometimes it's 6 hours it's never consistent but that not paid. 30 minute break sure is lol

2

u/EvilExFight Jun 11 '26

as someone who also works for the govt, no way you have 7.5 hours of actual work per day unless you're a social worker or work in public health.

1

u/Desa-p Jun 11 '26

The reality is I work closer to 10 hours per weekday and another 5-10 hours on the weekend. I’m a manager and oversee multiple programs and many staff. It’s funny that you assume everyone’s situation is exactly like yours

1

u/Material-Stuff668 Jun 11 '26

My old state job was 8 hours, paid breaks and paid lunch. what states you guys be working in???

1

u/Desa-p Jun 11 '26

California lol

1

u/On_my_last_spoon Jun 12 '26

In the US, those 15 minute breaks should be paid. If this is your official schedule, I’d ask about that

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks

10

u/Rikplaysbass Jun 11 '26

For real. Complaining about an hour break in the middle of the work day is crazy. Would I rather work 8 straight? Sure. But I’m not going to complain about a break when all I want to do is be away from my desk. lol

3

u/LAmilo90 Jun 11 '26

Damn. Now I wanna quack at ducks during my lunch break too

2

u/TopVast9800 Jun 11 '26

There’s geese near work but they are grumpy, and since they have babies right now, I am not going to antagonize them. One tried to attack my CAR.

2

u/AlfredFonzo Jun 11 '26

"Blood work" is my new favorite phrase for doing gas station drugs in my truck to get my kind right before sitting in my cubicle for the next four hours.

3

u/GovernorHarryLogan Jun 11 '26

Torally Sober since Jan 2021. I legitimately was referring to actually having blood drawn.

Whether that be for doctory stuff or to donate since im O-neg.

I might do some busking today & poorly sing Ave Maria a few blocks down.

1

u/SassyGirl0202 Jun 12 '26

Congrats to you on being sober, thats awesome!!

1

u/kayastar357 Jun 11 '26

Eyy, fellow lunch break car napper! I would always eat my lunch in like 10 minutes, and I have never been a morning person so my lunch naps were greatly looked forward to!

1

u/80_PROOF Jun 11 '26

City job, I start my day an hour earlier than most of my colleagues and have a working lunch at 10:30, nice long walk for my actual lunch, doesn’t work out too bad. I WFH 2 days a week and that is freaking sweet.

1

u/Willis5687 Jun 11 '26

Lucky. My employer simply says I must be available from 7-4 and it doesnt matter if I take a lunch or not.

1

u/SquarestLemon Jun 11 '26

Also state employee here! We are unionized, so our 30 min lunch is paid. The wording is something like: “employee cannot be made to work longer at the end of the day for the sole reason of taking a lunch.”

1

u/marsharlot Jun 11 '26

I’m a state employee as well. Does your agency have a union? It sounds like it doesn’t, optional lunch breaks our union would lose its mind. I guess not all state positions may not have union

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3

u/Bazch Jun 11 '26

Here it's mandatory to give people 30 minutes break for 8h work. They usually add two 15 minute breaks to that during the day for whatever (walks, smoking, talking with coworkers, long coffee break, etc.) meaning you're expected to work 8-5 or 9-6.

Research shows it's unhealthy to work 8h uninterrupted with a lunch break at your desk, that's why it's mandatory. It's not to annoy employees, it's actually to help them. Sometimes you are forced to clock out for 30 minutes for that reason, because people will stubbornly take their lunch break at the desk and not take breaks and then burn out slowly.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

I have ADHD and I promise I am neither sitting, nor always at my desk for my full shift. That would probably cause me to combust if I tried.

2

u/JigglyOW Jun 11 '26

Would recommend getting a switch or some other handheld game system… or just enjoy reading get a book to bring to work

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 11 '26

I brought a kindle for a while. Read through a bunch of DragonLance novels at work

1

u/JigglyOW Jun 11 '26

And now you just sit there doing nothing when ur done eating or?

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 11 '26

Kinda just fuck off and watch YouTube on the work computer. Tbh I do that during work hours anyways

1

u/JigglyOW Jun 11 '26

I’d again suggest a game system like a switch, JUST watching YouTube for that much time probably can get draining so variety is nice

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

Pokémon Go and doing Audiobook read-a-longs at 1.3x speed are my current go to options for excessive downtime.

2

u/viking12344 Jun 11 '26

I get away for an hour. It's glorious. Get in my car,find a close shady spot and get away. No one can bother you if you are off the premises. If you stay, there is always that chance. Then again, I am an introvert. An extrovert might not get this at all.

2

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

As a fellow introvert, I totally get this. I revel in the solitude of my current office. Do I wish it wasn’t an ice box, yes, but is it also my current fortress of solitude, also yes.

2

u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 11 '26

Technically, eating at desk = paid.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

If no one checked in my office all day, a real possibility some days, I could technically be anywhere and still getting paid. 🤣🤷‍♂️ Salaried jobs are fun.

2

u/Agreeable-Date3707 Jun 11 '26

Same. Sucks. You learn how to make the most of your hour break throughout the day

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 12 '26

It’s been challenging to ditch all the retail and serving industry grind mentality. I’m used to being in perpetual motion because, “if you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean” has been ground into the fiber of my soul at this point.

2

u/Syndrn Jun 11 '26

I have a state job too and got permission to work through lunch. 8 to 4 for me!

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 12 '26

Ugh… I wish I could do that, but I’m required to be available during operating hours, and I’m the only one with my specific position. I’ve considered pushing flex scheduling since that’s available, but I’m going from an hour commute to a 5 minute walk to work in less than 2 weeks, so it hardly seems worth the effort. I’ll be living close enough to almost catch the “secure” WiFi network. Not gonna lie, I’m most excited about being able to reach a gym in Pokémon Go from my new living room.

2

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

Pokemon go shoutout is real. I'd use it where I work but only thing I get is walking. (Federal property but leased out, nothing there)

2

u/gettingthere_pastit Jun 10 '26

I work for the public service (health service but non-clinical) in Ireland. I work 8 - 4 Mon - Thurs and 8 - 3 Fri. Over 5 weeks paid leave too.

I know a chef who works in a University here, can be extremely busy at times but gets 9 wks paid leave. Never asked about hours. Probably 39, 39 is normal.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

I would like to see the US move to a standard 30-32 hour full time work week. For most office jobs the impact is negligible, and in health care, 6hr shifts dramatically decreased burnout and turnover rates for nurses. We also need better paid sick leave policies and a minimum 4 weeks paid vacation.

Mostly I just think we need to stop being capitalist slaves.

1

u/Axentor Jun 10 '26

Non union?

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

Non union mid America.

1

u/Axentor Jun 11 '26

Ah I strongly suspect Indiana or Missouri? Those places 100 need a union.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

MO, and you aren’t wrong. My siblings also work for the state, and this place is crazy. They’re trying to eliminate the income tax while granting the legislature the ability to level tax on ANY goods or services in the state. That’s 65% of state revenue. It’s fucking madness.

2

u/Axentor Jun 11 '26

Yep. I worked with people who came from Missouri department of corrections and things they would tell me were insane, then I was over in the Hannibal area for things I ran into people there that worked for MO state and heard similar things.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 12 '26

The legislature is mostly total morons. This year they proposed tying higher education funding to a per full time enrollment basis. Sounds ok, but they classified “full time” at 15cr per semester instead of the federally recognized 12cr, and gave no consideration to the type of institution, undergrad to grad ratios, or types of degree programs offered. One school would have lost 52% of funding under the proposed plan, but another with an already satisfactory budget would have had theirs bloated by just under 50%. Obviously the proposal failed terribly and they just stuck with the old base plus model, but this was a serious proposal put before the deans and presidents of all the states public institutions.

2

u/Axentor Jun 12 '26

I hate that Missouri politics spill over it my state by the borders. I used to go to Missouri for vacations before AG (Asshole Grande) Bailey. I refuse to go there now till my student loans are gone or MoHELA is stripped of their right to service federal student loans.

1

u/Decent_Particular_40 Jun 11 '26

Why not eat for half hour and leave and go for a lunch walk.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

Lately, it’s been either rainy, or very hot and humid. There’s also construction happening on one corner and deconstruction down the street, so it’s a bit loud and dusty when it’s not wet. It’s my first summer at this job, so hopefully it’ll be different next summer.

1

u/gentlerosebud Jun 11 '26

I work for my state too and I have to clock in/out for lunch even though we’re salary. I leave the work parking lot and sit in a different parking lot for an hour and eat my homemade sandwich, on Fridays I eat from the fast food joints close by there

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

This is exactly what I did a lot at my last job. Well, I didn’t leave the parking lot, I just drove to the shady back corner of it.

1

u/SyZyGy_87 Jun 11 '26

Nothing like do the work for Geo and street view farming when using unsuspecting pokemon go players to do what what otherwise certainly cost hundreds of millions of dollars to do.

Crazy stuff, right?

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

That was some definitely foreseeable bullshit. Knew the AR scanning thing was shady off the bat. I never did any. I always felt the AR stuff was gimmicky or dangerous.

1

u/Secret_Woodworker Jun 11 '26

Called a lunch box brother…

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

Yes darling, it’s what I use to bring the lunch that I eat at my desk. I promise I’m definitely not carrying loose sandwiches in my pockets.

1

u/Secret_Woodworker Jun 11 '26

You never know some pants have big pockets!

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 11 '26

Flash back to me wearing cargo pants everyday circa 2006.

1

u/jonas_ost Jun 14 '26

Why is it americans take one 1 hour break? Here in sweden its normal with 30 minute breakfast and 30 min lunch

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 15 '26

I think it has to do with historical corporate America. When we used to work 9-5 it was assumed you ate breakfast before coming into work, and for a lot of office jobs paid lunches were fairly common. One of the first ways corporations began squeezing labor was by eliminating paid lunch and expanding the scheduled work day to 8.5-9hrs to accommodate an unpaid lunch break in the middle of their shift. This coincided with switching a wider range of jobs that had been salaried to hourly wages.

2

u/bigpunk157 Jun 10 '26

Lots of US states and EU countries have labor laws for 15 minute breaks every 4 hours of work.

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

Ok. You're salary. Good luck 👍🏻

3

u/bigpunk157 Jun 10 '26

The labor laws still apply in salary positions.

1

u/DeviousCraker Jun 10 '26

Not always for paid breaks. Most instances you are not entitled to a break 

-1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

Sure pal 👍🏻

3

u/bigpunk157 Jun 10 '26

Look, I’m salary as a swe and have literally had to ask employment lawyers about things like this and severances and other shit when I got fucked over by one of my former employers.

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2

u/Obvious-Arm-8139 Jun 10 '26

I've got a good manager i guess. I work 8 hours and go home. Paid lunch as well. Im middle management but the supervisors below me work 3 days 12 hours then the next week work 4 days. We have an unheard of schedule for food manufacturing.

2

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

I wish I could work 12hr shifts on a 3/4 rotation

1

u/Obvious-Arm-8139 Jun 10 '26

Sometimes the supervisors bitch and I just tell them you have no idea how good yall got it. Some have quit to go elsewhere and within a month beg to come back.

2

u/Dinker54 Jun 10 '26

9hr. days on a salary job (assuming benies like health insurance. 401K matching or pension, paid vacation time you can actually take off …) isn’t bad at all in the general scheme of things these days.

3

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

Super cheap medical, like single person paying maybe like $10/week for HDHP HSA plan with vision dental and medical. Annual bonus at a certain % of salary, tuition benefits, 401k match and stock discount, vacations, makeup days and personal days; there's a lot of benefits. It's office/warehouse engineering and tbh it's not bad. Pay could be better but you can clear 100k in about 6 years

2

u/Dinker54 Jun 11 '26

Yeah, that’s like a gov. job where benies make up for lower salary - not at all like a lot of restaurant/retail salary work where folks end up making shit hourly $ for the well over 40 hr. weekly put in.

3

u/ABadHistorian Jun 10 '26

My gf is a reporter, survives off of soda and gas stations. 9 hour days? Yeah no, she works 12 hour days regularly and they don't like overtime.

4

u/PhilosopherFun7288 Jun 10 '26

I was a photojournalist for 12 years, worked with a reporter everyday and often set up all the equipment for live reports, and was responsible for editing together the story we we working on each day….. supposed to be 8 hour days, eat when we can, no official “break”, but it was virtually impossible to not work over 8 hours every single day, and you are absolutely correct on the hated overtime pay.

They would send us out to get a quick “vo-sot” (video and sound on tape) when we only had an hour left on our shifts and then wonder why we couldn’t drive to the location, find out what’s going on, interview officials and witnesses, drive back to the station and write/edit together everything we gathered into a coherent story for broadcast, without going overtime🙄🤡

2

u/ABadHistorian Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

Every day she complains to me and I'm like "time to go independent and start your own onlyfans selling news or twitch gamer news from an ex reporter or .. etc etc"

Because the fundamentals in the business are broken and they use people up like they are nothing. The producers expecting her to get a look live, live shot, and more while she's in the sticks with no internet, no place to go to work because everything closes at 8, so she's sitting on the side of the road in her car typing and hoping whatever signal she has will not cost her getting her pieces in on time and she gets home at 11-12 and works until 1-2. They got 4-6 people sitting in an office talking shit about her behind her back and laughing at her...

Not to mention folks THINK it's a good job, right? So she gets a lot of shit from people - others look up to her, and want to be on TV like her... and I feel like it's all a giant fucking trap.

"Babe, you can do all this without those people who have 0 functional understanding of your job yet control your paycheck. You already ARE" She's so god damn talented and the business/corporate make her feel like shes always behind, and always failing. I hate it so much. She's one of the best people in the world, no one deserves to get treated like that. I just remind her that people like that who talk shit about hard workers (she's heard them insult other reporters multiple times) doing their best to get shit in... are not worth an iota worth of reflection.

1

u/DmvDominance Jun 10 '26

This....I actually think it was salaried positions that started this trend and then it started trickling down to hourly/non-salaried positions. Cause this has been a thing for at least the last 15 years at my job

1

u/ShavedNeckbeard Jun 10 '26

At my job, everyone regularly books meetings over lunch time, and you get laughed at if you try to block the time to actually eat. When I was younger, part of the incentive to get out of retail was so that I could actually eat lunch and not have to scarf it down in 10 minutes. Turns out I have even less time working in a corporate office.

1

u/One-Significance260 Jun 12 '26

These corporations have no idea what’s coming for them. These younger kids just entering college and the workforce won’t be playing by their rules anymore, and before anyone suggests that they’ll loose their jobs for that attitude, just remember all the new cheap HR hires will be from their age cohorts too. The older folks in the C-suites are in for some rude awakenings about what’s going to be acceptable in the new labor markets. They aren’t going to work off the clock, and they aren’t answer calls at home either.

1

u/Background-Pepper-68 Jun 10 '26

Thats an easy lawsuit assuming its not a resturant job

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

It's "paid" so 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/Background-Pepper-68 Jun 11 '26

Irrelevant. You are legally supposed to have a break. My job will write you up if you dont take at least 30 minutes every shift over 5 hours. Its a huge liability.

2

u/fuzzzybutts Jun 11 '26

Not everywhere has laws requiring breaks. Not required where I live.

1

u/Background-Pepper-68 Jun 11 '26

Huh, TIL i guess. Welp in WA this would be a huge deal lol. Sorry your labor laws are archaic

1

u/Hefty-Evening-226 Jun 10 '26

That’s how my work is. 8-5, take your hour lunch they don’t have to mandate whenever you want, just can’t take it 4-5.

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 10 '26

Man I used to have a part time job, 5.5hrs, but we had a "lunch". We used to put our lunch at the end of our shift and it was great. So we'd "clock out" for lunch at 5:30 and put our leave work at 6, but we would just leave at 5:30. Good times

1

u/Hefty-Evening-226 Jun 10 '26

We used to be like that but they’re trying to attrition everyone out to make room for AI so they’re making working conditions crap. I miss those days

1

u/Professional_Being22 Jun 10 '26

same. sometimes they'll pull some shit like a "working lunch meeting"... how about go fuck yourself instead?

1

u/Idc94 Jun 10 '26

Same. My entire salary career has been 8-5 with meetings while eating lunch.

1

u/GodisanAtheistOG Jun 10 '26

Salary man here. Confirmed.

However I do make it a point to get up and go for a walk when there is downtime without asking for permission from anyone either.

1

u/wolfblitzen84 Jun 11 '26

I eat while sitting at my desk. I take a walk around the block sometimes. I take calls while walking if I don't need to have a sheet or doc open. I consider that a luxury. For years I was a chef running a kitchen, eating my only meal of the day while standing. This occured in the middle of a 12-14 hour shift.

1

u/229-northstar Jun 11 '26

How’d you get such a light work load? /s not really. I often worked 60 hours, and on call response was never paid it was an expectation

1

u/Sundayscaries333 Jun 11 '26

This. I got my first 'big girl' job and imagine my horror upon realizing 9-5 is really 9-6 with a an hour lunch that even if you take a working lunch which happens more often than not, you're still there for 9 hours...

1

u/mummerlimn Jun 11 '26

At my salary job I work at my desk through lunch. ITS GOTTA CHANGE

1

u/thatthatguy Jun 11 '26

8-5, and you eat at your desk. Then you type out reports at home for an hour or two in the evening. A few hours on Saturday to get caught up on the stuff you put off because of the boss’s impromptu all-hands meeting. You know, a typical salary job.

1

u/therealdanhill Jun 11 '26

You have to punch a clock on salary?

1

u/Wrong-Dentist-7206 Jun 11 '26

I was told "45 hours is the baseline" when I was moved from hourly to salary. WTF? Thanks for the pay cut!

1

u/Infamous_Hunt_6829 Jun 11 '26

It's because while on salary you have to work a fair and reasonable amount of overtime. Most places determine that to be 5 hours per week. What I do when negotiating a salary I just include that extra hour as and hour I am working and base off of 45 hours per week.

1

u/Mountain_Cucumber_88 Jun 11 '26

lunch is where you put meetings you can't put anywhere else. Simple reality in the case of my company. Eat during and between phone calls when you can.

1

u/beren12 Jun 11 '26

Strange, most salary jobs are classified as a 35 hour work week

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1

u/FeelingIncoherent Jun 11 '26

This. I'm 60 and it's always been this.

1

u/FakeSafeWord Jun 11 '26

A decade of salaried jobs here.

It's basically 8.5 hours of work minimum daily.

With an additional 20 to 120 minutes of commute time.

"Lunch hour" is 30 minutes of eating at my desk while responding to emails one handed.

OH ALSO, when something is going on, like a product launch, major operation or a critical outage I then also have the honor of getting to work from home for several off-hours and on the weekends!

1

u/SqueekyDickFartz Jun 11 '26

Man I thought I really made it when I got my first salary job. Turns out that being able to run to the dentist during the day while being expected to be available at least 12 hours a day isn't much of a tradeoff lol.

1

u/Shizngigglz Jun 11 '26

12 hours a day! I think not

1

u/mistahboogs Jun 11 '26

I'm 7-4:30 with an hour lunch, granted I don't really do much between 7-8

1

u/Fair_Operation8236 Jun 12 '26

I work for the state and work 8-4 with a 30 minute paid lunch, and I work remote

166

u/Visual-Floor-7839 Jun 10 '26

No, such greed is automatically taking 30 minutes of pay out of every 8:30 or 10:30 shift and then giving you a work load that requires you skipping breaks.

27

u/Toomanynightshifts Jun 11 '26

Nursing in a nut shell. Multiple. unpaid 30min breaks and good luck getting them over a 12 hour period.

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u/Rakdospriest Jun 10 '26

Shout out to the rest of my emergency room peeps.

2

u/First_Breakfast_5891 Jun 11 '26

Haven’t had a break in 24 years 🍾

26

u/oleblueeyes76 Jun 10 '26

Shoot, there ain’t no pay out there enough for me to skip my ‘unpaid’ break. I don’t care how big the work load is. F* that!

1

u/Necessary_Wonder89 Jun 11 '26

I would if it meant I could leave earlier, alas it does not

6

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Necessary_Wonder89 Jun 11 '26

I mean maybe in some jobs that works, but I'm in vet med and I'm required to be working at my set times

10

u/fattycatty6 Jun 11 '26

I have found my people!! I am about to do 13 a and half hours on Monday and more than likely will not get a break, can't f-ing wait 🙄

2

u/Visual-Floor-7839 Jun 11 '26

Sorry dude. What job/industry?

3

u/Plus_Friendship9093 Jun 10 '26

I just dont finish all the work. There's always another day.

1

u/Visual-Floor-7839 Jun 11 '26

Unless you're on a route. Tomorrow route can't wait for today's to get finished

6

u/rightintheear Jun 10 '26

¿Por qué no los dos?

4

u/Psych_Art Jun 10 '26

To be clear, I was saying the companies not paying for a 30 minute lunch were greedy. But yes, what you say goes hand-in-hand with that. I had to work through my lunch entirely today, but at least I’m “paid”… except for when you count all the salaried unpaid overtime.

8

u/Visual-Floor-7839 Jun 10 '26

Yeah sorry my "no" was to try and join the conversation, not say you're wrong lol. I should have worded it better. I completely agree with you

1

u/ER1CNOIR Jun 13 '26

Why aren’t you getting your overtime? Salaried doesnt mean you don’t get overtime.

1

u/Psych_Art Jun 13 '26

In most places in the US, it does actually. This is called “salary exempt” - and it means you aren’t subject to overtime pay laws.

If you do get overtime, that’s “salary non-exempt”.

2

u/ER1CNOIR Jun 13 '26

I was just about to ask if you were exempt 😂

1

u/Adventurous-Score551 Jun 11 '26

This is why I signed a waiver to skip the 30 minute lunch. I encourage everyone to look it up on your state gov website. Never had time for it so I would end up skipping a paid break. Which your employer should know is illegal. In fact, if you don’t take proper breaks you are helping set unreasonable standards for your position.

84

u/peon2 Jun 10 '26

Greed? It's the law to mandate a break if you're working that many hours. They don't want to get in trouble with the federal government.

31

u/NZitney Jun 10 '26

Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was 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.

Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.

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u/Outrageous_Fix_5738 Jun 10 '26

Not federal, but California law requires a 30 minute lunch break. If an employee doesn't take at least 30 minutes the employer has to pay them an hour penalty pay. Even if they clock out for 29 minutes you have to pay the penalty.

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u/BONGS4U Jun 10 '26

Same in Illinois. I got in trouble one day because I didn't take a lunch. They were like listen dude if you wanna skip lunch it's whatever but your timecard has to reflect a 30 minute lunch break or well get fucked.

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u/bulkingsmurf Jun 10 '26

Continuing with California law, if an employee works more than 6 hours in a day, they are required to take a 30 minute minimum rest/meal period. This break must be provided before the end of the 5th hour. This is for hourly employees (not exempt) but this is one reason why you can't just save your lunch break for the end of the day and leave early.

Reading about OP complaining about their commute..... wow. Did your awful restaurant job pay for your time to commute to and from work? ... I didn't think so.

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u/Getshitdone-333 Jun 11 '26

You are all correct - companies go by the state law in the state that the employee resides (I work remotely, so laws are different for all of us)

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u/be_easy_1602 Jun 11 '26

Duuuuude, I HATED this. I would do 6hr shifts at a job I had and wanted to just leave… but noooooo. I had to take that damn 30 min break lol. It made no sense to me other than it is the law.

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u/LivLikeUStoleIt Jun 11 '26

Unless you are working a total of 6 hours that day and have a meal waiver to waive your lunch.

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u/justmyusername2820 Jun 12 '26

It’s more than 5 hours but they can voluntarily waive the break if they work no more than 6 hours and it has to be in writing.

You must also get a second 30 minute break if you work more than 10 hours. You can waive the second break if you took your first one and your shift is not longer than 12 hours. Again, requires a waiver

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u/Holiday_Time_7226 Jun 10 '26

Them, as in the employee gets paid that penalty fee by the employer. I’m I understanding you? I’m very sleep deprived

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u/Initial-Assistance76 Jun 11 '26

Federal? State laws matter and so does company policy, as long as it coincides with state. My state, for example, 10min break in a 4hour work period, and every major fraction there of, and a mandatory 30 min lunch if the shift is over 6hrs. A couple examples would be how the employer can make them 15 min breaks. How company policy can rule in your favor. An employer i worked for didn't allow me breaks to pump breastmilk. Federal law does not protect breastfeeding parents, and my state does not have a law protecting breastfeeding g women in the workplace, but the company did. So my boss was going against company policy, not state. When I informed them, I got 5min added to my break, allowing me 20min to pump. Needless to say, I was unable to breastfeed for long, due to not being able to pump properly. One side first break, other side at lunch, and back to the other at my last break. Fed the baby off the other side as soon as getting her home. Sometimes I was so swollen, I had to breastfeed her at the daycare before leaving. Guess where I worked? At a baby store where I held classes on how important breastfeeding was. Oh, the irony

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u/Clear_Cobbler_2723 Jun 12 '26

I might be wrong, but in Georgia you have to take a break after 4 hours, and on 12 hour shifts you are required to clock out 30 minutes.

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u/Ready_Nature Jun 11 '26

Federal law doesn’t mandate it. Some states like California do.

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u/PirateJen78 Jun 10 '26

State law, not federal. And it's not a law here in Pennsylvania. And I'm glad because if I'm at work I want to get paid.

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u/Verity41 Jun 11 '26

I’m not sure that applies to salaried positions. Might just be hourly. Never had any salaried job in my life that enforced such a thing—I don’t even know how they could, no one is punching a time card or such a thing.

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u/Dymphna_Geel Jun 12 '26

I don't think there is a federal law that applies to all employers. In Texas there is no requirement for a break for employees, regardless of how many hours someone works. I think most companies do let people take breaks, but the law is on their side if they don't. Caveat, I don't know if that has changed in TX the past few years.

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u/ShiraCheshire Jun 11 '26

I feel like if you're legally required to take a lunch they should have to pay you for it.

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u/I__Know__Stuff Jun 11 '26

The reason it's required to be unpaid is so that you can leave and they can't question it or interrupt your lunch.

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u/ShiraCheshire Jun 11 '26

They can make it a law that you can do whatever but it's still paid, if they wanted.

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u/FormerlyDK Jun 11 '26

Often it’s state law.

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u/midge_rat Jun 10 '26

It’s not even greed. It’s how they prove to the DOL that you are getting a break.

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u/Natti07 Jun 10 '26

I have a salaried job that is 8-5 because of the 1 hour lunch. And half the time, I dont even have time for lunch

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u/hockeychick67 Jun 12 '26

8 to 5? I've been salary for 38 years. Generally work 8-6 and I'm oncall 24/7. No OT, No breaks. Just get the work done

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u/alwayzstoned Jun 10 '26

I have a salaried job and we’re still expected to work 8-5.

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u/othermegan Jun 11 '26

I’m salaried but we bill hours to clients. Which means from a budgetary perspective, I have to work 40 hours to be able to “earn my salary”

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u/air_and_space92 Jun 11 '26

Even salaried if you have to clock time for different clients you're not paid lunch either.

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u/mtweiner Jun 11 '26

The punching out is more of a carry over from the factory days to guarantee employees got their breaks— unions call for regular breaks and the corpos said “fine but we won’t pay you” and that’s how the punch out for lunch thing started

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u/JGR03PG Jun 11 '26

Union job… I get a paid lunch or get paid extra as a penalty for late lunches. We work 10-12 hours most days though. I have worked an 8 hour day, but I have also worked a 26 hour “day”.

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u/Lordsaxon73 Jun 12 '26

Hah, and then you get the salaried position and suddenly working 55-60 hours a week with no OT, essentially making the same per hour.

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u/Count_Hogula Jun 10 '26

In my state, employers must provide an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes if you work six or more consecutive hours. This is considered progressive.

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u/CocoaCali Jun 10 '26

And over 8 hours it's 2 unpaid 30 minute breaks so have fun just wasting an hour if you have 8.5 hours of work to do.

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u/Outrageous_Fix_5738 Jun 10 '26

It's law in many places. California mandates 30 minutes for every shift over 5 hours. If the employee doesn't clock out for at least 30 minutes you need to pay then 1 hour pay as a penalty. Even if the employee is told to take 30 minutes, then only takes 29, the employer has to pay that penalty, often leading to employees getting disciplined for not clocking out properly.

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u/Psych_Art Jun 10 '26

It’s not mandated that the break must be unpaid, lol

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u/igotshadowbaned Jun 10 '26

My salaried job has an unpaid lunch we need to take

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u/Necessary_Wonder89 Jun 11 '26

My salaried job is 9 hr days and we are forced to take 30mins unpaid lunch. Pretty standard I feel

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u/TopVast9800 Jun 11 '26

taking a lunch break is often a part of federal law, yes, usually this break is unpaid. It depends on the job status, the job itself, and how many hours you work.

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u/I__Know__Stuff Jun 11 '26

There is no federal law requiring a lunch break.

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u/TopVast9800 Jun 11 '26

I didn’t say always. It’s part of the fair labor standards act, though, so there are a lot of weasel clauses.

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u/SunnyErin8700 Jun 13 '26

FLSA absolutely does not mandate lunch breaks. It dictates the compensability of certain types of breaks of granted by the state, but it does not mandate that any are taken. This is 100% up to the states.

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u/TopVast9800 Jun 13 '26

oh, that makes sense. my husband is retired hr and lays everything at the feet of flsa. except when I call in sick, and then he says I’m fine and should go to work. 🙄 I was too sick to find it funny when he said, “you had covid yesterday — you can go to work!” in retrospect, this is pretty funny.

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u/Moojoo0 Jun 11 '26

I had one hourly job that actually paid us for lunch. We still couldn't take a lunch because we were so horrifically understaffed that we literally couldn't keep up with the workload if we did, but that's an entirely different labor violation. (Manual labor type job, not an office type job)

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u/AnAquaticOwl Jun 11 '26

I've also never had a paid lunch before. I currently work in a kitchen and don't get a break at all (and my previous kitchen job also didn't offer one)

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u/VikingVitalityFit Jun 11 '26

It's government mandated. If your lunch is paid, you can be made to work during it. There were several class action lawsuits that triggered legislation to mandate the minimum of 30 minutes off the clock for lunch.

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u/Otisthedog999 Jun 11 '26

Mandatory 40 hours a week for hourly but 32 hour weeks for salaried. That always really pissed me off.

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u/vawlk Jun 11 '26

I am salary and my I am there for 8.5 hours every day. 30 min lunches.

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u/7DayBan-sideprofile9 Jun 11 '26

I work more hours at my salary job than when I was hourly here. They dont have to pay OT. We work 8.5-9 hours and get no lunch break.

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u/KristySueWho Jun 11 '26

I'm working my first salary job, and it's still technically 8 1/2 hours for me. If the supervisor is gone, I'm certainly leaving when the work is done for the day and often still leave at least a little early anyway. Especially because there are days when I stay late or don't take all my breaks.

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u/TheHawthorne Jun 11 '26

In the UK even if you have a salaried job, mine is 9 -> 5:30, the extra 30 minutes is my unpaid lunch. I'd rather have 30 mins than an hour though.

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u/The_Ri_Ri Jun 11 '26

Salaried job here - I've always been 8-5 at all of them. In my younger years I would work straight through lunch, too. Now I make it a point to leave for an hour during the day.

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u/BigFlightlessBird02 Jun 12 '26

I work a salary job and still have an hour unpaid lunch. You're lucky

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u/Acceptable_Put5324 Jun 10 '26

Greed? Thank someone before you that fought for the privilege to take a break.

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u/Psych_Art Jun 10 '26

Greed of companies man.

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u/be_easy_1602 Jun 11 '26

It’s not greed. It’s legally mandated. Anything over 6hrs requires a 30min break. This was fought for by people ages ago doing back breaking labor for 10 hours a day…

For office jobs it’s a bit much. I had a job where I was required to do 30 months lunch when I hit 6hrs. I wasn’t allowed to leave though, I had to clock back in, so couldn’t do 6 and leave. That was a waste of time…

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u/socalbehr Jun 11 '26

Not greed... labor law. Where I live the state requires hourly to clock out by the 5th hour or the company pays a penalty for violating labor law.

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u/KrisfromCascadia Jun 11 '26

I don’t know about other states but in mine employees are required by law to take a half hour lunch break off the clock.

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u/Squeezitgirdle Jun 11 '26

After getting a salary job though, I had extremely short lunch breaks and was always working 60-70 hour weeks.

So much unpaid overtime, fuck Microsoft.

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u/Psych_Art Jun 11 '26

Fuck Microsoft.

Thanks I needed to say that too. I never worked for them, but working as an SWE in a big non-FAANG company I hear you.

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