Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
783
Employee Thinks Paid Lunch Their Hill To Die On, And The Internet, As It Turns Out, Is Very Divided
In 1817, the famous British philosopher and educator Robert Owen proclaimed the concept that eight hours a day are supposed to be for sleep, eight for rest, and another eight for work. It took decades of disputes, strikes and negotiations before the eight-hour workday became the norm in much of the world. Okay, the official norm.
Today, an 8-5 working week is considered the standard, but de facto those are 9 hours we spend in the office (unless, of course, working from home). This includes, of course, lunchtime, which most employers do not pay for, but how free are employees during this hour? The user u/ftp67, the author of today’s story, came across this issue directly during their own job search.
RELATED:
The author of the post is a jobseeker and they almost always face this situation when the recruiter says lunchtime is unpaid
Image credits: Malte Helmhold (not the actual photo)
However, the author is sure that the 8-5 working week is actually 9 billable hours, not 8
Image credits: ftp67
According to the author, lunchtime isn’t a time when the employee can actually do something for themselves
Image credits: Igal Ness (not the actual photo)
Image credits: ftp67
So the author suggests either to have a true 8-5 working week with lunch at the work desk, or to make lunchtime paid officially
So, the Original Poster (OP), in their own words, has been looking for a new job for six months, has applied for many vacancies, but employers only began to respond relatively recently – after they lied on their resume. And so, in the process of communicating with recruiters, the author had one fairly standard question.
Each time during the conversation, the candidate asked whether the 8-5 system actually meant 9 billable hours. And every time the answer was quite the same, and in a rather offended tone of voice: “No, hour lunch break, 8 hours!”
However, as the original poster believes, and there is a grain of truth in their reasoning, in fact, the employer should be paying for their occupied time. After all, the employee cannot do anything during this hour of nominally free time. Pay attention to household chores? No! Walk the dog? No. Cook some food in the kitchen? Also no. Work on a pet project? No again.
De facto, an employee represents their company even during lunchtime, although they don’t receive money for it, the original poster is sure. In addition, many workers generally eat for 15 minutes right at the working desk, in between emails and calls. So why not either squeeze this time span into a full eight hours, or pay for that same ill-fated hour within the working day, the author of the post ponders?
Image credits: Redd F (not the actual photo)
Indeed, the Fair Labor Standards Act, adopted back in 1938, limited the workweek to 44 hours, while obliging employers to pay time and a half for overtime hours. Well, subsequent amendments limited the working week to 40 hours. On the other hand, according to a survey by Gallup, American adults employed full or part time work an average of 43 hours per week.
Moreover, in the entire history of these surveys, starting in 1989, this figure has never dropped to 40 hours, reaching its maximum of 45 hours in 2017. What proportion of these overtime hours were actually paid in accordance with the law – Gallup alas doesn’t provide such data. But lunchtime is definitely not included in these hours. This is how it happened historically…
By the way, this became perhaps the main argument in the words of skeptical commenters on the original post. And there were surprisingly many such folks. People counter the author by saying that they should just accept it because that is the ‘common practice’, and perhaps even go to therapy to de-stress from the situation.
On the other hand, a significant part of the commenters sided with the OP, arguing that, firstly, during lunchtime, an employee really cannot fully belong to themselves, and secondly, many employers somehow force staff to work even during their lunchtime. “The lunch hour is deff. not ‘your time.’ <…> When you’re there to an office that hour is super restricted and should be paid,” one of the commenters aptly wrote.
In any case, as the original poster is sure, something needs to be done about this situation, because “we recognize lunch is effectively working time. Nobody instantly mentally relaxes and enjoys that, That is not your time. It’s recess.” And what do you, our dear readers, think about all this? Do you agree or disagree with the author of the post? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments below.
The internet, as it turns out, is very divided over this, but many commenters do side with the author, agreeing with most of their points
Image credits: Israel Andrade (not the actual photo)
What do you think ?
Tabitha 2 years ago (edited)
9-5 USED have a paid one hour lunch baked into it. Some a*****e, sometime in the later eighties to early nineties, decided not to pay the lunch hour, but increase the workday by an hour, thereby stealing 5 hours a week from each employee. That started with Reagan. Hell, we all used to get mandatory cost of living increases ON TOP of any merit increases we received. That stopped dead with Reagan. You can pretty much date ALL the injustices foisted onto workers, and the pendulum swinging away from labor and in favor of management, back to Reagan, and the eighties era of greed and excess, when business schools stopped teaching ethics and started teaching future “suits” that the workers—-the ones on the ground, making and selling your company’s products, the people who actually make the company money—-are their enemies, and should be screwed over at every turn, and treated as naughty children instead of intelligent adults. The brainwashing of employees is f*****g cruel. Telling us we’ll be fired if we exercise our LEGAL RIGHT to openly discuss salary, to the point of making people believe it’s illegal to do so, even though it isn’t, just so they could pay one person way less for doing the same job as someone else, who isn’t more qualified or experienced, who they simply like better. Yeah. That.
WonderWoman 2 years ago
Most places in the USA the person is mandated by law to take the break. This came on the heels of employers denying people breaks during the work day.
BWC 2 years ago
Exactly. Unions fought for breaks in the workday. Most jobs it's required to give a break after 4 hours of work.
Load More Replies...
Jared Robinson 2 years ago
Worked since I was fourteen never had a paid lunch. I think it should be required.
Mark Fergel 2 years ago
Yeah. When I was working full remote during the lock down, I could use my lunch to go out and start mowing my lawn. Now that I'm back in the office, that one hour lunch is a waste. I work downtown. What the heck am I going to do with that hour? I can't go anywhere. I end up sitting around and reading a book or playing on my phone. Hardly anything productive.
VioletHunter 2 years ago
Why can't you go anywhere in the middle of downtown? There should be shops and restaurants, no?
Load More Replies...
Gabby M 2 years ago
I live in NY and worked at a 7-3 job where we started out being paid the straight eight hours, then after 2 years the state (NY of course) stepped in and nixed that extra $ saying we HAD to "show" a clocked out 30-minute unpaid break even though we were still working it. This was a surveillance position where we were ALWAYS watching no matter what or where we were in the building on a "lunch" or not. It's the Labor Laws in some cases that needs to be addressed to catch up with the times.
Ace 2 years ago
In most of Europe labour laws are enforced where you must take a break after a certain amount of time, but I've never heard of lunch breaks being included in the contracted working week, That's having worked in various industries in various countries over forty years or so. In every single case the working hours are calculated based on taking the required (usually but not always 1 hour) lunch, so yeah, 9-5 each day would be a normal start and finish time if you're contracted for 35 hours (like in France). This applies whether you're on the clock, paid per hour or salaried.
Mila Preradović 2 years ago
This sounds very American to me, in my country workday is 8 hours which includes half an hour break, paid ofcourse. If your job requires 12 hour shifts, you have two half hour breaks, paid.
Gardener of Weeden 2 years ago
I seem to remember way back last century at ONE job we had a 15 min break in the morning, a 1/2 hr break at lunch and a 15 min break in the afternoon - and we worked 8 hrs. And when I went to another job - it was no breaks but an hr unpaid lunch - had bills to pay and no choices.
Tabitha 2 years ago (edited)
9-5 USED have a paid one hour lunch baked into it. Some a*****e, sometime in the later eighties to early nineties, decided not to pay the lunch hour, but increase the workday by an hour, thereby stealing 5 hours a week from each employee. That started with Reagan. Hell, we all used to get mandatory cost of living increases ON TOP of any merit increases we received. That stopped dead with Reagan. You can pretty much date ALL the injustices foisted onto workers, and the pendulum swinging away from labor and in favor of management, back to Reagan, and the eighties era of greed and excess, when business schools stopped teaching ethics and started teaching future “suits” that the workers—-the ones on the ground, making and selling your company’s products, the people who actually make the company money—-are their enemies, and should be screwed over at every turn, and treated as naughty children instead of intelligent adults. The brainwashing of employees is f*****g cruel. Telling us we’ll be fired if we exercise our LEGAL RIGHT to openly discuss salary, to the point of making people believe it’s illegal to do so, even though it isn’t, just so they could pay one person way less for doing the same job as someone else, who isn’t more qualified or experienced, who they simply like better. Yeah. That.
WonderWoman 2 years ago
Most places in the USA the person is mandated by law to take the break. This came on the heels of employers denying people breaks during the work day.
BWC 2 years ago
Exactly. Unions fought for breaks in the workday. Most jobs it's required to give a break after 4 hours of work.
Load More Replies... Jared Robinson 2 years ago
Worked since I was fourteen never had a paid lunch. I think it should be required.
Mark Fergel 2 years ago
Yeah. When I was working full remote during the lock down, I could use my lunch to go out and start mowing my lawn. Now that I'm back in the office, that one hour lunch is a waste. I work downtown. What the heck am I going to do with that hour? I can't go anywhere. I end up sitting around and reading a book or playing on my phone. Hardly anything productive.
VioletHunter 2 years ago
Why can't you go anywhere in the middle of downtown? There should be shops and restaurants, no?
Load More Replies... Gabby M 2 years ago
I live in NY and worked at a 7-3 job where we started out being paid the straight eight hours, then after 2 years the state (NY of course) stepped in and nixed that extra $ saying we HAD to "show" a clocked out 30-minute unpaid break even though we were still working it. This was a surveillance position where we were ALWAYS watching no matter what or where we were in the building on a "lunch" or not. It's the Labor Laws in some cases that needs to be addressed to catch up with the times.
Ace 2 years ago
In most of Europe labour laws are enforced where you must take a break after a certain amount of time, but I've never heard of lunch breaks being included in the contracted working week, That's having worked in various industries in various countries over forty years or so. In every single case the working hours are calculated based on taking the required (usually but not always 1 hour) lunch, so yeah, 9-5 each day would be a normal start and finish time if you're contracted for 35 hours (like in France). This applies whether you're on the clock, paid per hour or salaried.
Mila Preradović 2 years ago
This sounds very American to me, in my country workday is 8 hours which includes half an hour break, paid ofcourse. If your job requires 12 hour shifts, you have two half hour breaks, paid.
Gardener of Weeden 2 years ago
I seem to remember way back last century at ONE job we had a 15 min break in the morning, a 1/2 hr break at lunch and a 15 min break in the afternoon - and we worked 8 hrs. And when I went to another job - it was no breaks but an hr unpaid lunch - had bills to pay and no choices.
Related on Bored Panda
21
35