In Florida, every job I have had has required me to take a 30 minute lunch if I work over six hours. At some places I skip it to be home 30 minutes sooner. Sometimes I take a shorter lunch. In every case, I've been paid for the hours I worked down to the minute.
My new job is at an employer with thousands of employees. If I work 8 hours and only take a 20 minute lunch break, I will get paid for 7 hours and 50 minutes. They automatically up my lunch to 30 minutes and then don't pay me for ten minutes.
I was told I have to speak with my manager and fill out a form describing why I didn't take a 30 minute lunch break, and if I do that every time, they will adjust the time. The time clock system calculates my 'total time' accurately, and beside it is 'calculated time.' The total time less any minutes from 30 minute breaks I didn't take.
I only lost a few minutes of work, but that same loss over thousands of employees adds up to the owner keeping a nice chunk of change from hours his employees worked.
Does anyone know if this is legal?