Questions & Answers

The company and the employee can voluntarily do what is being suggested. If the employer does not agree to the situation, then the employee must take the lunch period as originally contemplated. The employee has no right to unilaterally decide to combine them into paid breaks.

An employee can waive the lunch break but the employer has the burden to prove it was waived. Normally the break is mandatory. However the employer can tell the employee s/he must take the meal break. If the employee refuses to comply and works through the break then the employer can fire the employee. Whether fired or not the employer must be paid for every minute worked, even if the work was not authorized or occurred when the meal break should have been taken. Hope this helps.

This depends on a lot of factors. First of all, there are labor standards for breaks in certain professions under certain types of pay. Also, whether or not you qualify for overtime or breaks depends on how you are paid. Also, if you are a member of a union, the union contract governs the relationship and the answer would be completely based on that. In general, yes, if the employer and employee agree to this type of arrangement. But in most employment situations, these rules are laid out in the employee manual and their labor schedule is based on how they run breaks. It is legal, but it all depends on whether the employers want to allow this to happen. Unless there is a violation of some labor code (depending on the type of employment) or unless there is a union contract, nothing would force the employer to do this.