Restaurant Industry & Lunch Breaks

Nope, back in Lou. BTW one thing health inspectors do check for are the posters by the time clock. They look for the Federal hourly wage poster and the KY labor laws poster that defines all the above in print. CD

I'm from Ashland and get back often. Were you involved with any restaurants there?

For a year I was the F&B of the Ashland Plaza Hotel. At the time it was owned by a family from E'town & Lou. Then I went to work for Ashland Oil now Inc. for 7 years. At the time, Ashland Inc. held events on a daily basis. I coordinated everything involving food including the annual shareholders'/ board mtg., plus anything involving food for the chairman, the core exec. officers and their spouses away from Ashland's campus. We operated out of three kitchens and dining rooms in house plus several away locations. And were equipped to go mobile. Twice I fed 1000+ guests on what was Huntington's indoor ice hockey rink six hours earlier. (We grilled filets in the parking lot.) Occasionally the chairman would lend my team out to CSX or other large corporations for events in the Tri-state area. We did the Huntington Art Museum's capital campaign events in partnership with the Greenbrier. I'm sure we crossed paths if you were there at all in the '90s. Sorry this sounds like a resume. CD

One half of what I posed was answered. The other wasn't and I can understand why. So, if a place does not provide the breaks that are spelled out buy law, breaking the law? I worked in food service for 24 years and all the places that employed me gave me breaks. That and the laws are what I know.

Yes Doogy, not following local and federal statues and regulations about workplace law means that those establishments are breaking the law. However, unless regulators start raiding restaurants to check on this, nothing will be done unless an employee files a complaint. Also, technically, unless an employee tries to take said break and is refused the oppotunity to do so by management, there is no violation. Whether an employee doesn't exercise his or her rights because he or she feels pressued against doing so, without being explicitly denied the opportunity, is kind of a gray area.

I have no experience in the restaurant industry, but it sounds like it's just custom to not expect breaks. Most industry employees are probably aware of this going into it. Again, unless someone tries to exercise that right and is not not permitted the opportunity to do so, there really is no violation.

Actually, I have worked in the biz for over 18 years, I have worked for places who had one employee for front of the house and one for the back of the house who was designated a "Breaker". Breaks are required to be given, or at least offered. I haven't had over a 5 minute smoke break each day I work, but it is a trade off. You complain, not only are you subject to ridicule and places tend to weed out the complainers, albeit for other made up reasons as to look like retaliation. I have watched first hand the KY Department of Labor fine tens of thousands of dollars to operators.

Other points are the lunch period has to be offered between 3 and 5 hours from the beginning of a shift, at least 8 hours has to be between scheduled shifts. 30 minute lunches have to be paid if you are required to remain on premises. If you are allowed to leave then and only then can they legally not pay you for that break.

There are age old ways around alot of these laws, most are by pretending ignorance. I have watched grown men/women have heat strokes and two have aheart attacks by working in hot conditions with not breaks. The business needs to be regulated more, it is more of safety issue in some workplaces. Usually corporate restaurants follow labor laws as they are usually in more than one state and have HR departments to figure out each states regulations.

Alot of you managers out there, owners, etc., some of you could be one or two formal complaints away from bankruptcy. The fines are hefty if the violations are deliberate.

Granted this isn't the norm, but in 2000 I directed an operation whose kitchen had no AC and very little heat. The owner's theory was that we would make our own heat and that the number of days we actually required AC would be so few that it did not make sense to invest in AC. The line was sweltering for six months out of the year. I tripled the breaks, we rolled ice in bar towels for the backs of necks. It was like Delhi. It was nerve racking as I was sure the heat buildup would cause an accident or health issue. CD

For a year I was the F&B of the Ashland Plaza Hotel. At the time it was owned by a family from E'town & Lou. Then I went to work for Ashland Oil now Inc. for 7 years. At the time, Ashland Inc. held events on a daily basis. I coordinated everything involving food including the annual shareholders'/ board mtg., plus anything involving food for the chairman, the core exec. officers and their spouses away from Ashland's campus. We operated out of three kitchens and dining rooms in house plus several away locations. And were equipped to go mobile. Twice I fed 1000+ guests on what was Huntington's indoor ice hockey rink six hours earlier. (We grilled filets in the parking lot.) Occasionally the chairman would lend my team out to CSX or other large corporations for events in the Tri-state area. We did the Huntington Art Museum's capital campaign events in partnership with the Greenbrier. I'm sure we crossed paths if you were there at all in the '90s. Sorry this sounds like a resume. CD

Ashalnd people here!! I worked at The Ashland Plaza after Culinary School, and then helped open "Around The Corner" did we work together? I was there in 97

Hey Robin..did my quote thing get out of whack again?

Is Around The Corner where they make the homemade yeast rolls daily? CD

[Robin Garr]

Hey Robin..did my quote thing get out of whack again?

Mike, the "Disable BBCode" option in "Options," down underneath the message-entry box, got checked on your post so the embedded codes don't work. I sneaked in and unchecked it.

Honestly, I think it's more likely that this is a user issue (ahem) where that box accidentally gets checked on occasion, rather than a system glitch. But if it keeps happening, yell me up and I'll try to dig deeper.

Late to the game but:

I work my store alone on Saturdays, its a 16 hour day and you can guess how often I get a break.

The law says one thing, but reality is often something else. In some places I have worked, I have contemplated taking up smoking just so I could get 10mins.