12 hour work day. No break

Hmmm maybe unions are not so bad. My employer (non union) gives us 15 minute break paid and an unaid 30 minute meal if you work 6 hours. More than 6 hours is an hour meal break. Are you on your feet for 12 hours straight? If yes a break should be mandatory. I hope you can at least take a potty break.
 
Once upon a time there was a federal law that mandated a 15-minute paid break period for every 4 hours worked. Unfortunately, it was repealed during the Reagan administration, so that is long gone.
 
Hmmm maybe unions are not so bad. My employer (non union) gives us 15 minute break paid and an unaid 30 minute meal if you work 6 hours. More than 6 hours is an hour meal break. Are you on your feet for 12 hours straight? If yes a break should be mandatory. I hope you can at least take a potty break.

Depends on the union. My wifes union just agreed to waive all breaks. But if you work more than 8 hours because of a missed lunch, you get OT.
 
Your profile says Philly Suburbs. In PA, I believe you are required a 30 minute no work lunch (unpaid). I know the non-exempts in my office are required to take it, no working while eating at your desk.

In Pa there are no rules unless you are under the age of 18. The employers can offer you a unpaid break, but they do not have to offer one.
 


Very thankful for my job. 15 minutes for anything under 6 hours. Anything over 6 hours=1 break and 1 lunch (30 minutes or 1 hour, depending on what you pick). Anything over 7 another 15 minute break. So in an 8 hour day I have 2 15 minute breaks on company time and an unpaid lunch time.

Not being able to eat a meal in 12 hours is not good on your body.
 
Don't know if it's legal or not but I often do that and know many others who do.

So true like many others I sometimes do 12+ hours as an EMT without a break and then end up finishing late on top
 
Once upon a time there was a federal law that mandated a 15-minute paid break period for every 4 hours worked. Unfortunately, it was repealed during the Reagan administration, so that is long gone.

That is still state law where I live. Actually it is a Mandated 10 minutes paid break not 15 for every 4 hours you work for non-salaried employees in many professions. Some professions, like interstate drivers, domestic employees and taxi drivers are exempt.
 


Don't know if it's legal or not but I often do that and know many others who do.

When I was in public accounting everybody did it. During busy season if I worked 12 hours it was a short day! I couldn't leave until I got my work done, so leaving 30 mins earlier rather than stopping for a break always won
 
We are supposed to be taking a 30 minute unpaid break during my 12.5 hour shift as a RN. I can count on one hand how many days in a year that actually happens. I'm lucky if I get 2 bathroom breaks during the day. The hospital was sued a year ago for not paying for the lunches we work through, and those nurses that joined received a settlement. Managers were more in tune with making sure lunches were covered, and we got a break, but it only lasted about 6 months. Now we're back to no breaks. :(
 
What I find interesting on reading a thread like this is it seems to become a competition. OP asks if it's legal to work 12 hours without a break. Many of us have, and try to one up on how many shifts in a row we've had to work without a break. I wonder why we all try to justify why working 12 hours non stop is perfectly fine. Yes, it's legal, yes many of us have done it, but honestly - I think it's wrong. If a person is working 12 hours straight, I think they should be entitled to 30 minutes to grab something to eat, to take a walk, to meditate, or whatever it is that helps a person regain energy and balance in their life.
As far as labor laws go, it varries state by state and looks to get worse for the worker bee (trying to get rid of overtime and minimum wage), I think now, more than ever we need to start looking at the big picture on quality of life. Can a person work 12 hours a day, without breaks, 6 days a week??? Absolutely. But is that the kind of existence we, as a society should be striving for?
 
Not legal, but I do it all the time. ER nurse=sometimes it's either tend to very sick patients or eat lunch. I'm always going to choose my patients.
It's gets old--yes. But gotta do what I gotta do. Charge nurse always notices and does their best to get a break for everyone but sometimes it's just not possible.
Maybe I'm in the majority, but I'm ok with it. I feel like its what I signed up for. We have amazing teamwork at my hospital, so if I'm not getting a break, nobody else is either. It's just cause we are getting out butts kicked all around.
 
I agree with Acklander. This isn't healthy for any of us. People will burn out. And I have to say, it is not great to be the patient being cared for by the person who is nearing the end of a 12 hour shift with no breaks.

TP
 
My daughter is a RN in a hospital. Since she started her job 2-1/2 years ago, she said she has seen the cafeteria less than 5 times. And, 12 hour shifts are often more like 13, 14 or even 15 hours long.
 
My daughter is a RN in a hospital. Since she started her job 2-1/2 years ago, she said she has seen the cafeteria less than 5 times. And, 12 hour shifts are often more like 13, 14 or even 15 hours long.

Wow. I was considering being a nurse, but now I don't know with such long hours, and I'm sure they'd be stressful.
 
I completely agree that it's not healthy to be on your feet, constantly going for a 12 hour + day. However, I don't really know how to change it. My unit has been chronically low staffed (with the exception of 3 months in the summer when our number of patients always drops). I work in what they call a "stepping stone to the ICU" where RNs go to get ventilator/drip trained, then transition to the ICU. We hire, hire, hire; they finally get trained, and then move on.

It's really difficult to leave the unit if you are already short staffed and leave 2 nurses to care for 12 patients on life support while you take a break/lunch. I took a half hour lunch last week because I worked a 16 hour shift, and was starving. We had pizzas delivered in, and all took turns in & out of the break room for 10 minutes on & off.

As for the previous poster not sure if she wants to be a nurse with those kind of hours, there are many different types of nursing jobs. However, my hospital has gone to only offering 12 hour positions for bedside nurses. There are a few choice 8 hour positions, mostly in highly sought after specialties like Cath Lab & Endo, but people wait a long, long time or know someone to get their foot in the door there. Most RNs put their time in as a bedside nurse (working 12 hour shifts doing a lot of physical labor) before they figure out where they want to end up or what they want to do. It's not for the faint of heart. :)
 
Everything on this thread is speculation, I would like to know the type of job and more specifically if this is the norm or was this a really bad day. There are a lot of us that have jobs that don't always allow us to get a break, it doens't happen everyday but it does happen.
 
Q. Are breaks and lunches required by law?

A. The mandatory break law only applies to minors under the age of 18 and they must be given a thirty (30) minute meal period after five (5) consecutive hours of work. Company policy dictates break and lunch periods for anyone over the age of 18.

That is NJ law.

I work 730-430 and get 2 15 min breaks (paid) and 1/2 hour lunch (unpaid). Most hourly people in my office work 8:30-4:30 with 2 15 min breaks and a 45 minute lunch. Salary people get a 1 hour lunch and no breaks.
I feel fortunate to have a good employer who lets us take breaks!:thumbsup2
 
It is NOT illegal in the State of Maryland. There is nothing in Maryland law that says you have to be given a lunch period or a break, no matter how many hours you work - unless you are a minor. :(

Here too, and more and more employers seem to be doing exactly what the law requires. Our neighbor recently hired into and almost immediately quit a non-union welding position over that very issue - no breaks, not even for lunch, in a 7.5 hour shift in loud, hot, potentially dangerous working conditions. Yeah, that's a great idea. :crazy2:
 

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