<![CDATA[lunch - Gordon Law Group, LLP]]> https://www.gordonllp.com/blog/tags/lunch/ Sun, 07 Dec 2025 19:38:10 GMT en-us <![CDATA[Hourly Employees Must Be Paid For Working Through Lunch]]> https://www.gordonllp.com/blog/hourly-employees-must-be-paid-for-working-through-lunch/ https://www.gordonllp.com/blog/hourly-employees-must-be-paid-for-working-through-lunch/ Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:54:43 GMT If you are paid by the hour, be wary of your company’s policies regarding working through breaks, lunches, and after your shift – especially when lunch deductions are automatic. Working more hours than you are paid for could be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Manning v. Boston Med. Ctr. Corp.,…

]]> If you are paid by the hour, be wary of your company’s policies regarding working through breaks, lunches, and after your shift – especially when lunch deductions are automatic. Working more hours than you are paid for could be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Manning v. Boston Med. Ctr. Corp., a group of hospital workers for the BMC claimed that they worked through breaks and outside of their schedule without extra pay. BMC allegedly had a timekeeping system to deduct pay and had received complaints in the past over unpaid extra work.

While this case involved a number of issues related to the Labor Management Relations Act, unions, the grievance process, and collective bargaining agreements, as well as class action pleadings and the like, the case affirmed that where companies fail to pay wages, courts should not dismiss those claims at the opening stages without good cause and fair hearing.

]]> <![CDATA[Washington State Court Remedies Meal Break Violations]]> https://www.gordonllp.com/blog/washington-state-court-remedies-meal-break-violations/ https://www.gordonllp.com/blog/washington-state-court-remedies-meal-break-violations/ Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:06:40 GMT Many employers automatically deduct meal breaks from employee pay, but never actually give employees those breaks. In Massachusetts that is a crime, but while the employer might suffer criminally the question often comes up as to how much pay an employee should receive for that unpaid work time. As we’ve reported in a past blog…

]]> Many employers automatically deduct meal breaks from employee pay, but never actually give employees those breaks. In Massachusetts that is a crime, but while the employer might suffer criminally the question often comes up as to how much pay an employee should receive for that unpaid work time.

As we’ve reported in a past blog concerning a ruling of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts, Judge Gertner has ruled that an hour worked is an hour unpaid, but how do other courts handle the problem?

In a recent decision of the Washington State Supreme Court, when the Sacred Heart Medical Center’s nurses worked through their meal breaks, the Court found that those nurses were entitled to pay at the overtime premium rate, not just straight-time compensation. The Court reasoned that if nurses received only pay at the straight time rate, the hospital have an incentive to employ fewer nurses.

If you find yourself working through promised meal breaks for which your employer automatically deducts wages, call us.

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