If nothing changed after you told HR that you did not get your meal breaks, then keep track of all communications, gather evidence of this wage theft and speak with an attorney.
The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has no law in place that demands workplaces provide meal breaks. However, some states do have strict rules about meal breaks and your attorney will know the rules for your state and will help you file a complaint with the Works and Hours Division in the Department of Labor office closest to you if you have not been given the meal breaks that your state requires,
Keep Track of All Communications
If you believe you are entitled to meal breaks, but your employer has violated state law by not providing them, the first step to take is informing your HR that you have not been getting your meal break entitlements.
When you do this, you should make a note of the date and time that HR was made aware of this violation which is equivalent to wage theft. You should also note their response to your message.
If you need to contact them again about the matter you should keep track of any follow ups that you made. It is always better to communicate in writing or by email so you can save all the communication that has taken place.
States That Require Meal Breaks
Under Oregon’s state law employers must provide a thirty-minute meal break to all employees who work at least 6 hours. This break might be unpaid if the employee is relieved completely of all work duties.
If it is not possible for an employee to be relieved of work duties, the employer is legally required to give paid time to enable the employee to eat.
An employer can provide a shortened meal break of no less than 20 minutes and pay for it. For an employee who works a shift of seven hours or less, the meal break must take place between the 2nd and 5th hours of the shift.
Any employee who works more than 7 hours, the break must take place between the 3rd and 6th hours of the shift
Similarly, the state of Washington requires that employers provide a meal break of 30 minutes to non-exempt employees after five hours of work, or between the 2nd and 5th working hour.
Meal breaks typically are unpaid if employees do not carry out work related duties for the whole period of the meal break. If you think that you have been denied your meal break entitlement, you need to gather the evidence to prove it.
Gathering Evidence of Wage Theft
If you know your state has a law in place that indicates you should have a regular meal break whether it is paid or not and you have been denied this entitlement, you will need to gather as much evidence as you can to prove it.
The first thing you will need to do is check your state’s laws. If you find you are entitled to meal breaks you should keep a copy of your state’s rule so you can use this as evidence when filing a complaint at your WHD office.
You should study your employment contract to see if it says anything about meal breaks. When you file your complaint you will need to provide the following details:
- Your name
- Your address and contact details;
- The name of the company where you work(ed)
- Location of the company if it is different from your workplace
- The company’s phone number
- Manager or owners name
- The type of work you do
- A short description of time allowed for meal breaks, if any.
Get a Free Case Evaluation
An attorney will add legitimacy to your case and gather up all the evidence you need for your wage theft and keep it in one place due to not being allocated meal breaks.
One of the hardest parts of filing a complaint with the WHD is ensuring that the evidence you provide backs up your wage theft and this is what an experienced employment law attorney does well.
He or she will also make sure the wage theft claim is filed within the statute of limitations in your state. In most states the deadline is 3 years from the date the wage theft took place.
