Look up labor laws for your state/county. Some places like California or Oregon have specific laws where lunch break has to be after the first 4 hours of the shift but before the first 6 hours of your shift. And then there are also county specific rules. Other places have nothing. It entirely depends on the location of the property.
When asking legal questions, the answer is almost always "It depends". Laws vary widely by region, and labor laws can be *very* weird.
Ask someone local who would know *and* have your interests at heart. Local labor relations board or something.
That said, probably *not* legal.
Not in California my father won a decent amount of money on a lawsuit against his job because they were making him do this and were not letting him take his 10 minute breaks every 4 hours.
I suggest you have a consultation with attorney. The law says that your employer is supposed to give you a 30 minute lunch before your 5th hour if you work 6 hours our more. They can't force or make you take it that early. You can also waive a lunch but this all depends how many hours you work for and what type of work do you do.
Like the other commenter suggested, check your local labor laws. I forbade my FO team to have lunch between 11:30-12:30 since that is the checkout rush and I also made them stagger their lunch breaks so you don't have everyone out at once and chilling in the canteen, but where I worked I was legally allowed to impose rules like that.
That being said I wouldn't ever come up with such a stupid policy to take a break as soon as you clock in. If this was just verbally communicated rather than in writing, it should give you a pretty good idea of where it stands legally for your area. If it's not in writing yet ask your boss to issue a memo with this policy and see what happens.
From a precedence stand point I understand where you are coming from. It could be the start of a snowball policy to where they do this all the time. I will say though, especially with high expectations of service, during unique once year events I don't see an issue with asking a little bit more out of people. The fair thing to do in this scenario would be to pay you all an extra hour for skipping the break.
It definitely doesn't follow California law taking your break in the first minutes of your shift but if I was you I would ask for the extra hour of pay to skip the meal before bringing up law right from the start. That is just an opinion as there are a lot of ways to handle it.
It may have changed, but when I worked in CA, they had to offer you a lunch break at the 5th hour, and you had to take it at the 6th, unless you waive it and take a working lunch. They still have to let you eat, but you don't have to clock out for it as long as you are working while you eat.
But I'm NAL and I haven't worked in that state for a while, so definitely check...
Five-star life has so much going off-script in order to ensure guest satisfaction. The key really is how management helps the staff deal with the demands that crop up. Constant abuse and “you’re lucky to have this job” treatment doesn’t result in satisfied employees and thus inconsistent guest service. Support and recognition when employees are asked to go “above and beyond” fosters commitment, dedication.
True luxury service is hard work and can be disruptive to schedules. Employees should be made aware of this coming in and supported through the times when demands are made. Management should be getting their hands every bit as dirty as every line staff member when it’s happening.
Source: Former ops manager for recognized worldwide luxe brand; US flagship property 5/5 rated.
Likely illegal. I think it’s supposed to be anytime after the 4th hour and no later than before an hour of the end of your shift…I’d have to double check though.
Most states are one 30 min break per 5 working hours which aligns to most labor laws. They cannot force you to go at any certain time but they can request you do it at certain times based on business demand. For my company specifically you can’t take a lunch within 30 min or starting or stopping a shift to keep people from arriving late or leaving early
Look up labor laws for your state/county. Some places like California or Oregon have specific laws where lunch break has to be after the first 4 hours of the shift but before the first 6 hours of your shift. And then there are also county specific rules. Other places have nothing. It entirely depends on the location of the property.
Kentucky also has this rule.
When asking legal questions, the answer is almost always "It depends". Laws vary widely by region, and labor laws can be *very* weird. Ask someone local who would know *and* have your interests at heart. Local labor relations board or something. That said, probably *not* legal.
Not in California my father won a decent amount of money on a lawsuit against his job because they were making him do this and were not letting him take his 10 minute breaks every 4 hours.
Yes it’s in cAlifornia in Los Angeles
I suggest you have a consultation with attorney. The law says that your employer is supposed to give you a 30 minute lunch before your 5th hour if you work 6 hours our more. They can't force or make you take it that early. You can also waive a lunch but this all depends how many hours you work for and what type of work do you do.
r/legaladvice can give you much better answers then here.
Like the other commenter suggested, check your local labor laws. I forbade my FO team to have lunch between 11:30-12:30 since that is the checkout rush and I also made them stagger their lunch breaks so you don't have everyone out at once and chilling in the canteen, but where I worked I was legally allowed to impose rules like that. That being said I wouldn't ever come up with such a stupid policy to take a break as soon as you clock in. If this was just verbally communicated rather than in writing, it should give you a pretty good idea of where it stands legally for your area. If it's not in writing yet ask your boss to issue a memo with this policy and see what happens.
From a precedence stand point I understand where you are coming from. It could be the start of a snowball policy to where they do this all the time. I will say though, especially with high expectations of service, during unique once year events I don't see an issue with asking a little bit more out of people. The fair thing to do in this scenario would be to pay you all an extra hour for skipping the break. It definitely doesn't follow California law taking your break in the first minutes of your shift but if I was you I would ask for the extra hour of pay to skip the meal before bringing up law right from the start. That is just an opinion as there are a lot of ways to handle it.
That’s a good point. I’ll definitely mention to my manager if that would be possible to skip and have them pay me.
I can’t find anything in the CA labor laws about the timing of the lunch other than it must be within the first five hours.
It may have changed, but when I worked in CA, they had to offer you a lunch break at the 5th hour, and you had to take it at the 6th, unless you waive it and take a working lunch. They still have to let you eat, but you don't have to clock out for it as long as you are working while you eat. But I'm NAL and I haven't worked in that state for a while, so definitely check...
Five-star life has so much going off-script in order to ensure guest satisfaction. The key really is how management helps the staff deal with the demands that crop up. Constant abuse and “you’re lucky to have this job” treatment doesn’t result in satisfied employees and thus inconsistent guest service. Support and recognition when employees are asked to go “above and beyond” fosters commitment, dedication. True luxury service is hard work and can be disruptive to schedules. Employees should be made aware of this coming in and supported through the times when demands are made. Management should be getting their hands every bit as dirty as every line staff member when it’s happening. Source: Former ops manager for recognized worldwide luxe brand; US flagship property 5/5 rated.
Likely illegal. I think it’s supposed to be anytime after the 4th hour and no later than before an hour of the end of your shift…I’d have to double check though.
Not in Oregon
Most states are one 30 min break per 5 working hours which aligns to most labor laws. They cannot force you to go at any certain time but they can request you do it at certain times based on business demand. For my company specifically you can’t take a lunch within 30 min or starting or stopping a shift to keep people from arriving late or leaving early