I’m curious about the policies the company I work for has in place. So, our shifts are 8 hours and we get a paid break, it is only 20 minutes and I found that to be strange since I’ve never worked anywhere that offered under a half an hour for 8 hours of work.
So, I learned that we can punch in 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after our shift. If we punch in any sooner or out any later, they have to pay us. So if I punch out between 2:06 and 2:14 they owe me 15 more minutes of pay. But if I punch between 2:01 and 2:05 they don’t owe me the extra couple of minutes.
Additionally, for our 20 minute break we have a 2 minute grace period. If you go over that 2 minutes they dock your pay 30 minutes!! I just learned this and I’ve been there almost a year and no doubt have cost myself money. Just this past week I lost a half hour over taking a 23 minute break. And if a customer stops me on the way to the clock I’m required to help them. I’m very irritated by this.
Are these practices legal? Especially the break policy? And if not, what can I do? I’m in Pennsylvania, if that helps.