12 hrs and no breaks

I live in North Florida and work for a company where I do 12 hour shifts for tech support on weekends. The problem is that they don't allow us to have breaks. We can only leave our desk to use the bathroom or to cook our lunch to eat at our desk. Is this legal in Florida? Aren't employers supposed to give me a 15 minutes paid break for every 5 hours I work and a 30 minutes unpaid lunch for every 9 hours? Someone please let me know, because there are 3 of us who can't take it for too much longer. We need some proof to bring to our employers before we tell them we hate it. Thank you in advance for any help.

Surf your State's Wage & Hour laws. Usually, you are supposed to get a lunch break within an 8 hour day that is away from your desk or you are still considered to be working. However, there are "special" wage & hour rules covering technological support personnel since you would fall under the "professional" category.

When the W&H laws were originally passed, PCs were only "twinkles in the eye" and as a result, there are very few rules that speak specifically to this category of worker. They are sort of "cut and paste" rules.

Basically, the W&H rules need major overhaul to put them into the 21st century, and this is something your State or Federal W&H administration would have to do. An administrative agency can pass laws without having them voted on and without Congress' okay. If enough people petition for a change in their State and/or Federal W&H laws, then perhaps they would be able to make some constructive changes to specifically protect tech workers.