What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
I have just started a job recently and was told that we are to work 8 and a half hour days and take a non paid 30 minute break. This is completely fine with me, but I was told that a few days before I started the operations manager made a rule that if you do not take your 30 minute non paid break you will be docked for a full hour. I have read that if you are working through breaks you must be paid for them as well if it makes your work week add up to more than 40 hours you are to be paid overtime for the extra hours. I personally like my breaks and enjoy taking them and do not plan to work through them at all but I was discussing this with other employees that have work loads much larger than mine and feel as though they would rather not take the breaks and we discussed being docked this full hour for not taking the half hour break. So we are all wondering, because no where have I read that this is legal, is it legal for them to make you take a 30 minute non paid lunch break and if you do not take the 30 minute non paid lunch break are they allowed to dock your pay. I question it because it seems as though there is room for advancement in this company and at some point I may get a larger work load and in this business work must be completed before you leave for the day and I may not be able to always take the lunch breaks.
Any help would be appreciated as my first day on the job I punched out for my 30 minutes but worked through it only because I was training and did not have the time to take the break and was worried about being docked this whole hour.
I have just started a job recently and was told that we are to work 8 and a half hour days and take a non paid 30 minute break. This is completely fine with me, but I was told that a few days before I started the operations manager made a rule that if you do not take your 30 minute non paid break you will be docked for a full hour. I have read that if you are working through breaks you must be paid for them as well if it makes your work week add up to more than 40 hours you are to be paid overtime for the extra hours. I personally like my breaks and enjoy taking them and do not plan to work through them at all but I was discussing this with other employees that have work loads much larger than mine and feel as though they would rather not take the breaks and we discussed being docked this full hour for not taking the half hour break. So we are all wondering, because no where have I read that this is legal, is it legal for them to make you take a 30 minute non paid lunch break and if you do not take the 30 minute non paid lunch break are they allowed to dock your pay. I question it because it seems as though there is room for advancement in this company and at some point I may get a larger work load and in this business work must be completed before you leave for the day and I may not be able to always take the lunch breaks.
Any help would be appreciated as my first day on the job I punched out for my 30 minutes but worked through it only because I was training and did not have the time to take the break and was worried about being docked this whole hour.