Three years ago, I took a job at a call center. It was far from my first choice, but when your options are “take a job from the only offer you got or have literally no other form of income”, it doesn't leave you with much of a choice. So, I went in, and their policy of “the two 15-minute breaks are off the clock” raised an eyebrow for me, but when the state Web site said “breaks do not have to be paid”, I didn't question it further.
They also had a policy of “releases are based on who had the lowest QA scores” as an “incentive of employment” – which I still think is a scummy practice, but that's not why I'm here.
Almost a year after that, I had a barrage of Karens that unfortunately killed my QA scores, and I was let go. Thankfully, I was able to use my tax return to survive the month I was jobless. Exactly one job offer over several hundred applications, I was then an overnight stocker at a chain hardware store.
Almost a year after that, my depressed butt, still not finding better employment, was let go for, surprise, surprise, inadequate performance. While I did have my tax return, another surprise was inbound.
About those unpaid breaks. Turns out, federal law states that the 15-minute breaks must be paid. I was paid – in double – for almost a years' worth of unpaid breaks. It kept me afloat while I had a longer gap in unemployment because… Well, still in the middle of the pandemic, and employers' apparent love of ghosting prospective employees. While I am currently a parts delivery driver, this, again, isn't why I'm here.
Just today, I got another notification about them. The call center is now in a lawsuit because of unpaid overtime. I wasn't sure how this affected me again, but then I realized.
The call center had set it up so that I'd work for 9 hours a day, 1 of which was unpaid (30 minute lunch, and the two 15-minute breaks), for 5 days a week. While I had been paid for the missing time, they had failed to pay me for the “and a half” that it would have pushed me over 40 hours a week for the unpaid breaks.
TL;DR: company screwed me out of time I should have been paid for, they got fined and had to pay me in double amongst other fines, and now, they're going to have to pay me more because of unpaid overtime.