naw they don't say anything to anybody for skipping breaks or lunches. i haven't taken a lunch since i've been hired and let me tell you, it's a lot nicer leaving after 8 paid hours than 8 paid hours but with an unpaid lunch tacked on.
Here in Kentucky, breaks and lunches must be given according to state labor laws. If too many people skip their lunches, the store gets in trouble. I always take my first break and my lunch. I leave the store for my lunch just to get away from the chaos for a while. It helps break up the day. If I take my last break, I take it the last 15 minutes of my shift. I punch out for break, wait 7 minutes, punch back in from break, wait one minute, and then punch out to go home.
in WV breaks and lunches are mandatory and most stores will force you to take them, but from what i've seen it's hard to get breaks on time or at all. I have known people who skip their breaks or take their lunches at the end of the shift but never on front end.
Not getting a break is a grievable offense and was something I had to do on more than one occasion.
[EDIT:] Store managers get reports on breaks, lunches, and early/late punches every single day so don't let them tell you they don't. It's in their morning paperwork.
-- Edited by BagBoy on Saturday 6th of May 2017 10:44:41 PM
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
I don't know if the store actually gets "audited" or what happens specifically. When our store started cracking down on this a few years ago, I remember them having a list of people who had not taken lunches, and I think that, like someone else said, the store gets into trouble if there are a lot. Apparently this varies depending on what area you are in.
Here, anyway, you and possibly your department head will get written up for not taking lunch on any shift over 5 hours. And our store's timeclocks are set up such that you must have a minimum of 30 minutes between punches.... so if you take lunch at the end of your shift, it must be a full 30 minutes, and then after that you cannot punch back out for the day for at least 30 more minutes.
I've worked at three Kroger stores in Texas and I don't know of anybody (myself included) that actually clocks out for breaks. Management has never said anything about it. I suspect minors might be required to, but I personally don't know any 18+ associates that do. Here, I think only minors get lunches whereas everyone else, it's one fifteen minute break for anything less than seven hours and one thirty minute break for anything over seven.
