It was a good thing that I did hand in my two weeks yesterday...

[Lady Freedom Returns]

I would never have known I work till close today.

I don't understand why he does not call me when he changes the schedule. And the 10 1/2 days are very hard since I must stand the whole time. So I would like a heads up.

Apparently you get no breaks. When I worked fast food (way back before school) if I worked 8 hours or more I got at least two 15 min breaks and 30 lunch. This job I don't get that. I stand the whole 10+ hours. try and eat lunch if there is no one in store and all cleaning is done.

How the Convenient Store get away with not following the labor laws are beyond me.

[mzteris]

1. Report them. n/t

[Lady Freedom Returns]

2. I am thinking about.

One of my sister's are trying to tell me because it is "at will" employment they don't have to give me a break at all. And I need to learn to put up with it and be happy I get a paycheck.

Heck, I have people trying to tell me that union are bad all the do is take there money and if the want benefits they have to pay extra. The people of MO is getting hosed!

[avebury]

3. Unfortuantely whe I checked Missouri Labor Laws:

http://labor.mo.gov/DLS/General/breaks.asp

Missouri law does not require employers to provide employees a break of any kind, including a lunch hour. These provisions are either left up to the discretion of the employer, can be agreed upon by the employer and employee, or may be addressed by company policy or contract.

Boy that sucks!

[Lady Freedom Returns]

7. Yes they do.

It makes me sad how little people know there rights and the laws.

So many are so scared that if the demand their rights and demand the job to follow the law that they will lose their job. They just allow the Corps to use them because they are scared.

And people have no idea what Unions really are and what they really offer. People might think they are making more with out the Union and they are ready to believe what they have been told. No one is doing the homework for themselves.

[mzteris]

16. um Overtime?

Overtime Pay – Employers must pay at least one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay once overtime pay is in effect. Overtime pay begins once an employee works more than 40 hours in a work week rather than more than 8 hours in a work day. State and federal law does not allow employees to voluntarily waive their rights to overtime pay and accept straight time instead. Any employer that asks an employee to do so violates the law and employees should file a wage complaint.

Though, they're probably under the 40 hour mark. Hell, not only quite. MOVE!

Archaic.

[Phentex]

17. What did they say when you asked about it during your interview? And...

what is a woman on her period supposed to do? Get toxic shock or just bleed through her clothes?

[Lady Freedom Returns]

18. He just pointed to the Labor law poster and

and I was told by the other woman when I got working that I better wear a pad and use super tampons. As for bathroom break we are to limit them as much as possible.

Since I would be working alone at night I am to lock the register and hurry. Do not let the boss learn that a customer came in and had to wait for me to finish.

[Phentex]

19. I was thinking about locking the door...

that's what I would do. I mean, what I would HAVE to do!

[pipi_k]

22. Limit bathroom breaks...

I did that at my last job.

I worked out front in a very small office. Often I would be the only person in the entire office.

I started trying to limit my bathroom breaks and ended up with a nasty bladder infection. The only one I had ever gotten up till then, and the only one since (this was 1994).

Bladder infections can sometimes lead to actual kidney infections...fortunately mine didn't.

The doctor told me I should go when I needed to.

Putting one's health at risk for the sake of a job or an ungrateful employer...to hell with that.

[mzteris]

8. are you kidding me???

I'll have to check that link myself. I can't believe any state is that freaking backward. Hell, even southern ones are better than that!

[avebury]

13. From Fed DOL website:

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the work week and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.



From State of Oklahoma:

http://www.ok.gov/odol/documents/WHFAQ.pdf

2. Are breaks and lunch periods mandatory?
Neither federal nor state law require employers to provide breaks to employees age 16 or older. Mandatory break
laws only apply to children under the age of 16. Breaks and lunch periods are considered benefits and remain at
the discretion of the employer.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

20. OK no. But the Labor poster they have hanging in the office for the State of MO.

Does say that they are to give so much time for breaks and for lunch when the day is 8 hours or more.

They have it hanging n the office and they don't follow it.

You see, as I found out as a store manager once a upon a time, State Law says we have to have the Laws posted in the work place where all can see them.

[avebury]

21. From Missouri DOL

http://labor.mo.gov/DLS/General/breaks.asp


Missouri law does not require employers to provide employees a break of any kind, including a lunch hour. These provisions are either left up to the discretion of the employer, can be agreed upon by the employer and employee, or may be addressed by company policy or contract.

[patricia92243]

10. I did not realize it differed from state to state. I thought federal law dictated it - 40 hours,

breaks, lunch hour, etc.

I'm truly shocked. These employers are the same ones who would have had slaves in the "good ol' days."

If it is the law, I don't see how it would do any good for LadyLiberty to report them. According to their law, they are not doing anything "wrong."

The whole thing is sickening.

[DebJ]

26. OMG that is absolutely horridly unacceptable. I can't believe it.

Unfortunately my experience with 40 years of work experience is that there are too many
employers who would do exactly that....that is what was done to me as a quick service food
manager. I was told by my District Manager that IF I stopped to eat during my 12 hour shift,
I had better not be seen sitting down for more than 10 minutes. This was made all the more
pleasant by being scheduled to close the store (there til 11pm or later) and to open the store
the next day at 5:30 am. Such a lovely business!


On Edit: I was an exempt employee. For hourly employees in Maryland, we were required
to give at least one 30 minute uninterrupted break to anyone working over 7 hours, I think...
but every place I worked went with a 6 hour rule.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. MO's labor laws are medieval.

They don't require employers to give employers any breaks at all. http://labor.mo.gov/DLS/General/breaks.asp

[mockmonkey]

14. Neither do the US Labor laws

Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the work week and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.

Bona fide meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

[mzteris]

6. ridiculous

At will doesn't mean they don't have to abide by labor laws! What they are doing is illegal.

And you said you handed in your notice anyway. So you have nothing to lose, but you may help others from being mistreated. Heck, you could possibly get the back pay due you.

Unions are why labor laws changed in this country in the first place. It's why there are 40 hour work weeks and overtime pay and enforced breaks. The end of child labor and sweatshop conditions. (Okay, not the end, the mf'ers still exist, but they're illegal.) There are now safety laws and minimum wage laws (such as it is at least it's more than some aholes would pay unless they are MADE to).

You have a duty to yourself and others to report illegal activity.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

9. Your right.

I was a Manager at another job. I know what I was allows and not allowed to do.

I do think the are pulling this stuff to keep labor cost down. Do stuff this way, they don't need people to cover for breaks and lunches.

This is not the way you run a business.

[mockmonkey]

4. Missouri? n/t

[Lady Freedom Returns]

12. Yup.

I am here till Oct 5th.

Thanks to a DU'er buying me a ticket home!

[rl6214]

24. What do you plan on doing between now and Oct 5

Since you put your notice in already? Didn't you jump the gun a little bit?

Best of luck to you.

[In_The_Wind]

11. You'll be better off at your next job.

Your time in hell on this job is almost at an end.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

15. Yes! A Job back home in AZ!!!!!

Can't wait!

[nolabear]

23. My guess is, if you were being held in jail this would be cruelty.

If the law says you can't pee or change a tampon by right then the law needs to be changed. I know you're leaving, but if I were you on the way to AZ I'd drop a letter to the editor of the state's largest newspaper in the mail simply chronicling your experience. You never know who you might help.

[rl6214]

25. Where do you work? What is a "convenient store"?