I work for a small family-owned chain business, probably just a hair under 50 workers total. I manage one of their stores almost entirely (Sundays the store is closed, Monday I have someone else open the store), and have only one other coworker at my store as most employees are at our main location.
Today my coworker had a funeral to attend and couldn’t work, we typically just go take breaks on our own when we are together whether it be to get food or go and smoke a cigarette, but it was just me today on the busiest day of the week working 8 AM to 6 PM. I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday so I called my boss and said I was going to order and go pick up my lunch and the store would be shut down for 15 minutes or so. I was denied that.
I’ve never made a fuss about this as most the time I have a coworker and we take our own paid breaks as we please, even as far as sleeping on the clock. However I accepted a shift 2 hours longer than I was expected as I know the company is short-staffed, and I could not get 15 minutes to grab lunch.
I’ve been searching for new jobs for a few weeks already due to pay, but this is my breaking point as they have clearly been violating NYS labor laws by not allowing me any breaks when working alone, what are my options here?