![]() The Working Time Regulations describe the various different types of break, the time between breaks, who they apply to, and what employee and employer responsibilities are. Workplace breaks are governed by the Working Time Regulations (1998), as amended, and an employee’s contract of employment. Employment Law on Breaks – Relevant Legislation Here, we take a look at the law on breaks at work and attempt to condense all the information you as an employer will need into a handy guide. Should your employees receive an hour-long lunch break by law? How long do workers need to work before they’re entitled to a break? Are workers entitled to smoking breaks? Do the same rules apply to every type of worker? In fact, both employees and employers often struggle to answer relatively simple questions on the subject. Not everyone has a complete understanding of the rights afforded to workers and the responsibilities assumed by employers. The legislation that governs Employment Law on breaks can be confusing. Join/Renew Now and let SHRM help you work smarter.Employment Law on Breaks – The Definitive Guide For Employers Was this article useful? SHRM offers thousands of tools, templates and other exclusive member benefits, including compliance updates, sample policies, HR expert advice, education discounts, a growing online member community and much more. Pitzak is an attorney with Foster Employment Law, the Worklaw® Network member firm in Oakland, Calif. Businesses also should regularly train new hires, employees and supervisors on how to properly comply with these policies. Professional Pointer: To avoid violations of the FLSA and costly class actions, employers should ensure that their auto-deduct policies provide ways for employees to cancel or adjust an automatic deduction if they work during some or all of their meal breaks. For these reasons, the district court granted class certification. The district court determined there was sufficient evidence supporting the existence of a class injured by the hospital's common policies and pay practices, including that the employees were not scheduled for lunch breaks, managers were aware that employees were working through their lunch breaks and managers were discouraging employees from cancelling the automatic deduction. Only a few employees were potentially injured by one rogue supervisor, it said. ![]() Their failure to follow company policy disqualified them from meeting class certification requirements, the hospital asserted. In opposing the class certification, the hospital maintained that the class members knew that they could cancel the automatic lunch deduction and did so regularly. Employees argued that damages included compensation for hours worked during meal periods and lost overtime compensation resulting from the early release policy. Supervisors were permitted to alter payroll records without providing notice to employees.The ability to release the employee early was used to avoid overtime.The hospital's policy placed the responsibility on the employee to maintain time-keeping records without proper training.The hospital's employees brought a class-action lawsuit alleging that the 30-minute deduction occurred regardless of whether the meal break was taken and that employees were routinely prohibited from either taking an uninterrupted meal break or canceling the automatic deduction. The hospital's policy included a provision that allowed supervisors to release the employee 30 minutes early if the employee chose not to take a meal break. Marietta Memorial Hospital established internal policies outlining meal breaks and how to cancel the auto-deduction when the employee is unable to take a meal break. ![]() Employers should take care to ensure that their policies and practices do not run afoul of these requirements given the potential for costly class-action litigation. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employers to automatically deduct 30 minutes from compensable time for meal breaks for hourly employees, provided those employees are permitted a meal break that is free from all job duties and, alternatively, a procedure exists to reverse the automatic deduction. A recent case in Ohio highlights the risks companies may face related to auto-deduction policies.
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