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Law: How many hours does a person need to work in order to get a break?


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As I have said,I work 5 hour shifts which is only part time.What Im confused about is how many hours does a person need to work in order to get a break? Im working a 5 hour shift which is a long time to me.I sometimes work straight 5 hours which is hard on me.They started giving me breaks but now they stopped letting me have breaks.Im always saying to them they didnt give me a break.Then they say "oh we forgot" They always say that.I dont buy that and think its nonsence.They are going out of their way to make sure everyone else has their break but with me they dont.I think if they tried to remember they would.Now they are giving me more work to do and tell me I cant have a break unless im finished with my work.The amount of work they give me in 5 hours is hard for me to finish in those 5 hours.They promised me things would be back to normal and they would stop giving me so much work.But they broke that promise.Yesterday,it was getting really warm,and I started feeling thirsty plus I needed to sit for a few minutes cause of the arthritis pain ,I have in my legs.But they said why dont you just continue working.It made me so mad.They are also going against the law.

 

Patty

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"Massachusetts law states that employees must receive a thirty minute break after six hours of working. An employee must be free to leave the workplace during the break. An employee can voluntarily give up the meal break, but must be paid for all hours worked. If you are not receiving a meal break, contact the regional office nearest you."

 

This quote is from: http://www.ago.state.ma.us/labor/breaks.asp?head2=Vacation+and+Meal+Breaks&parent=276&section=16

 

So, they are not breaking the law.

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You know, years ago when I was in high school I worked as a cashier in a supermarket. For every four hours we worked we were entitled to one 15 minute break. If we worked a full eight-hour shift we had a one-hour (I think it was one hour, this was a long time ago) meal break -- so it was basically 4 hours with a fifteen minute break in there somewhere, one hour lunch, and then another four hours with another fifteen minute break. If we worked a five hour shift (typical for part-timers) we were only entitled to the one fifteen minute break.

 

This was in New York State, not Massachusetts, so I don't know if this will apply to your situation Patty. I think that the info Clia provided is about meal breaks specifically, not about rest breaks. You generally aren't allowed to leave the premises during a "rest break" (probably not the right term), whereas you are allowed to leave the site during a meal break. Massachusetts tends to be as liberal as New York is in terms of workers' rights, etc. so I'd be very surprised if you were not entitle to a ten or fifteen minute break.

 

I tried to get more specific info via google but haven't found the right site. Sorry, I'm too busy right now trying to get my work done, but maybe someone else can help you track this info down. But I really do think you'd be entitled to at least one short break.

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if they informed you at the beginning of the job, however, that you be allowed breaks, and you are not receiving them without an official policy change, this is a problem. take a look at the contract you signed when you first worked there - what does it state?

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