Work Breaks

The laws regarding how much break time an employer must provide employees for rest and meal periods vary from state to state and under federal law. However, many employers are increasingly faced with what to do when employees abuse the prescribed break times. What do you do when an employee takes successive breaks throughout the day either for smoking, surfing the Internet, personal phone calls, or other activities, especially when on abusing employees start getting angry resentful that they’re working more than the others? A well-written employee handbook can go a long way toward protecting against this kind of situation. However, employment policies are only as helpful as they are monitored and enforced. Talk to employment attorney for more information about whether your break time policies comply with legal requirements, and how to best go about enforcing them in a consistent manner.