How many hours are you allowed to work before a break is needed?

[adusa37]

Okay, so I work as a Hostess at Red Lobster for $8.10 an hour in Pennsylvania.

On September 7th, 2009 on Labor Day I worked at 10:30am to 9:30ish straight through, without a break. 10 hours worth of working, on my feet, no break. I was also Denied a break and told that "There are Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and chips in the back when you have a bit go back and get something to eat. We are not doing breaks today! So no, your not getting a break."

Now as a side note, I was only suppose to be a 10:30am to 4:00pm shift, for only lunch. And another person was suppose to come in and work at that point at 4:00, but they could not work and needed the day off, I in return said that I would take those hours instead and work for her.

Also, with the denial of having a break, the other girl that had came in to work at 12:30 until 8 whom was to be a double on Monday was also denied a break as well. When clearly we are to have a break if doubling on any given day.


Now my question, is this allowed in Pennsylvania Labor Laws or no? I tried looked it up but nothing was giving me a clear answer, if anyone could help me out I'd be very happy to know.

[adusa37]

Okay, so I work as a Hostess at Red Lobster for $8.10 an hour in Pennsylvania.

On September 7th, 2009 on Labor Day I worked at 10:30am to 9:30ish straight through, without a break. 10 hours worth of working, on my feet, no break. I was also Denied a break and told that "There are Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and chips in the back when you have a bit go back and get something to eat. We are not doing breaks today! So no, your not getting a break."

Now as a side note, I was only suppose to be a 10:30am to 4:00pm shift, for only lunch. And another person was suppose to come in and work at that point at 4:00, but they could not work and needed the day off, I in return said that I would take those hours instead and work for her.

Also, with the denial of having a break, the other girl that had came in to work at 12:30 until 8 whom was to be a double on Monday was also denied a break as well. When clearly we are to have a break if doubling on any given day.


Now my question, is this allowed in Pennsylvania Labor Laws or no? I tried looked it up but nothing was giving me a clear answer, if anyone could help me out I'd be very happy to know.

Breaks are not required, so denial of having a break is not against the law. You can find this information at DOL.gov. Here is what DOL says about your question:
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.

So if at the end of the pay period, all of the hours you worked on that day puts you over full time hours, you are to be compensated overtime for those hours.

Best of luck to you!