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Boss taking out lunch breaks I'm not taking.

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Kerelious

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

Hi, I have been working at my job for 5 years now. When I started I noticed my pay checks were a bit short of hours. Now when I started we used an old fashion punch clock for out times, so it didn't really bother me at first, I thought maybe it was bad math on my bosses part. But after a while I realized it was happening every paycheck, so I questioned him about it. His response to me was that he was taking out our lunch break, mind you, we don't get breaks. This job is a bar and I'm a cook, therefore I'm on call at all times that I'm on the premises. I never clock out for a lunch nor am I given 'lunch' break, If there is an order I must stop what I'm doing and make it. When he responded with this, I thought it was odd as it has never happened to me before, and I've been working these types of jobs for almost my entire working career. So I informed him that I didn't think this was right and that he shouldn't be taking time out of my paycheck for any reason. He shrugged it off, and as I didn't know a whole lot about the laws on this I put it to the back of my mind. Well I was doing some research for a friend and I ran into the department of labors laws on breaks and lunches. Well according to what I read its illegal for him to take these hours from me if I didn't clock out for them myself and if I didn't have a break where I am completely relieved of my duties for this time. As I said its now been 5 years that I've been at this job, and after reading this I really feel like I'm being cheated on every paycheck. Is there any recourse that I can take in this matter? I assume if I threaten a legal battle that he will fire me, so I've only brought this fact to his attention in a non threatening way. And to be honest he has yet to respond to my inquiry about fixing this problem.

So basically, I'm asking what I can do about this situation. Its been 5 years of 30 mins being taken out of every single day I work. Is there any way I can get this money back? And if so what is the best and easiest way for me to do this, I am poor enough as it is and I can't afford to spend a bunch of money to get money back unless there is a surefire way.

Thanks for taking time to read this and I await any help.
Andrew
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
The first two years for certain, and possibly the third year, are gone forever.

You can file a wage claim with the state. It will cost you nothing, but they will not go back the full five years. They will go back two years, three if the violation is determined to be willful. (ONLY the state gets to decide if it is willful or not.) What's more, you cannot legally be fired for filing a wage claim, and if you are fired for it there is additional legal action you can take.

That's the closest thing to a sure fire way as I can offer. It's not the only way, but it's the cheapest, safest, and has the most protections.
 

Kerelious

Junior Member
Thank you for your quick response. I am now looking at the labor board unpaid wages form. It is asking for dates that I wasn't paid. Now I have a bunch of old schedules and a bunch of old paycheck stubs. But I wonder how I'm suppose to get all the dates I've worked for the past 2-3 years? I fear if I ask my boss for a list of the days I've worked that he'll get hostile with me as he has yet to respond to my request for payment of this money he's taken out. Is there a way I can get these without confrontation? I still work at this establishment at the moment, while looking for a new job, and I would like to make this as painless as possible. Thanks again for any help.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Just do the best you can without asking your boss for them. The wage and hour people will come in and do an audit on him, they will not tell him specifically that he's being audited because of your complaint, but I bet he can guess who's been asking all the questions, who's likely to have done this.
In order to file the claim, you do NOT have to have all the total exact stuff lined up, just as much as you can come up with for documentation.

If you ask the boss for the information before you file the wage and hour complaint, he would probably not only refuse to give you the hours, etc, but he'd probably fire you on the spot, which he could do legally. So let the wage and hour people get the paperwork you do not have for proof.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
This is the good part.

When you file a wage claim with the state, you don't have to prove what time you worked. The employer has to prove that you didn't work the time you claim.
 

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