Is 37.5 hours a week a part-time job or a full-time job, and will he be able to collect benefits?
5 30-minute lunches = 2.5 hours
40 - 2.5 = 37.5 hours
in a 40 hr week he isn’t getting paid to eat lunch
Two and a half hours a week multiplied by three shifts and by the number of employees saves the corporate weenies a lot of money for their golden parachutes.
Correct, one word answer: Obamacare.
Two words. OBAMACARE MANDATES
I think this is because of laws in California (and elsewhere I presume)
The employer wants to avoid paying overtime.
The law is, there is overtime above 8 each day. It seems to me therefore, the employer is moving the “work day” as a result to 7.5 / day.
This leaves a half hour buffer.
Seems to me, it is that simple.
8 hour day with a 30 min unpaid lunch. Pretty common for non-exempts whose schedules need to sync with those of 8 hour a day exempts or who are in workplaces that for one reason or another need to be on strict 8 hour shifts or are only open 9-5. It also gives a bit of OT flexibility but companies that really want to avoid OT tend to have 30 or 32 hour base schedules.
He’s off the clock for his lunch time.
He will also find that he is required to take those lunches, and if he doesn’t he will be docked pay for them as if he had. This is federal law. He will be permitted only highly-regulated breaks.
The cell-phone restrictions are logical. They can be imposed for reasons of safety (to prevent workers from being distracted and injured) and security (not giving out details of operations to competitors) as well as productivity. Most people will never get anything done if they have access
to a smartphone.
He’s probably on wages. The salaried people probably work 8 hours per day, and take a half hour off for lunch, making their day 8-1/2 hours total. The wage earners probably use to do the same thing, but then some law said they had to get 15 minute breaks in the morning and afternoon. To keep things synchronized, and in stead of adding a half hour of work for the salaried employees, they cut the wage earners day by half an hour. Typical example of the government trying to improve the lives of the workers, but actually screwing them.
Everything the government decries, will hurt you, one way or another.
He’s getting an unpaid 30 minute lunch / day. That’s all that it. I believe for purposes of 0bamacare it’s still considered full time.
Years ago all jobs at Merrill Lynch offices were 37.5 hours.
Why doesn’t he ask his company? Seems to be a fair enough question.
More than likely as others have said it is lunch. If the job runs 3 shifts then probably at one point they had a 20 min paid lunch. By going to a 30 min unpaid they only loose 10 min productivity but save 20 min pay each day. If they still had 8 hr work days with the 30 min unpaid lunch then they would end up with 2 people at most stations at shift changes for 30 min.
Having been a factory worker, i would also venture to say overtime buffer. It’s sad but true.
When I started my first job after I graduated from college in 1976 at Bell Labs they had 37.5 hour work weeks. After many years there they changed to 40.
Is it a plant that goes 24 hours a day? With a half hour lunch that would be three shifts.
Sounds like five days a week, eight hours a day less half an hour a day for lunch. I worked many years for a company that did this. Of course any of us on salary just worked 'til the work was done. For most of my life the clock has been a guide, not a slave master.
There are jobs that can rightfully be timed. For all jobs after beginning of the information revolution, common sense and mutual agreement between the employee and employer should be the guide.
The first place I worked about 25 years ago was a 37.5. We weren’t allowed on “the floor” until about 5-10 before the start of the shift, were expected to leave for 30 minutes, and couldn’t stay more than 5 minutes after the shift ended.
I temped at one point as a front desk person at a 200+ lawyer law firm. Not only were you required to leave for lunch, but you were relieved for some time in the morning and the afternoon as they didn’t want you leaving the reception area nor having more than a mug of tea or glass of water at the desk.
Non-exempts were I work are 40 hours + one hour for lunch. When I was non-exempt I want to go to one of the competitors because they are a 37.5 place and the 9 hour day can get really long. Salaried are expected to work 40 hours a week and have the same general schedule as the non-exempt employees. Of course several of us have weeks that are 50+ hours and then have a week or two where we really only need to be there about 20-30 hours.
they found a way to cut costs by not paying them for lunk breaks
I would love to see everyone move to 3 10-hour days
I would pretty much do anything if I could have 4 day weekends every week, and as for the 10 hour days, heck I would work my ass off for 10 hours
This model also eliminates Obamacare mandates AND if you are industrious you work 2 different jobs and double your income