this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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You always hear the phase “9 to 5” and also the song with the same name. Assuming you include 1 hour worth of breaks (30 minute lunch and two 15 minute breaks), you’re only working for 7 hours a day which comes up to 35 hours a week.

Now it feels like you have to work 8 hours a day (for a total of 40 hours of actual work), plus your other time off meaning you’re really there for 9 hours each day (for a total of 45 hours). Am i looking at that wrong, or did expected times change, and if so, when?

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[–] weariedfae@lemmy.world 234 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Everything changed. You're not crazy. If you watch movies made before the 2000s about office culture, including the movie 9 to 5, you can see that the hours included a lunch break. Which was paid.

Yes, those of the older generation had it easier in every way.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 98 points 3 days ago (12 children)

Is this a US thing? Do you not get paid for your lunch hour? That's wild.

[–] Letstakealook@lemm.ee 60 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Most people don't. So, for an average employee, it would be 9-530 to account for their unpaid 30m lunch required by law.

[–] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I believe many places lunch is not required, and neither is any limit on number of hours per day required.

[–] gdog05@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In the US, you're lucky if you get paid for the hours you work. And many don't get all of their hours paid.

[–] Kaboom@reddthat.com -5 points 3 days ago (3 children)

In the US, it's Salary, not Hourly. It's not "getting paid for the time", you get paid for doing the job you agreed to do.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 days ago

Most salaried workers are written up if they fail to work 8+ hours. Salaried is now just a method to deny people overtime - fancied salaried workers may still operate in the intended way but even most developers I know have to obey some sort of time tracking method.

[–] totallynotaspy@fedia.io 9 points 2 days ago

That's just salaried folks though. The vast majority of american workers are hourly or contractors. Per the Dept of Labor's own site:

The Wage and Hour Division is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the welfare of the nation’s workforce with a focus on low-wage, underserved workers. In fiscal year 2023, we successfully recovered over $274 million in back wages and damages for more than 163,000 workers nationwide.

Wage theft is when employers don't properly pay their employees and is a HUGE problem because it isn't always out of malevolence, it can be as simple as the time clock not properly computing overtime, etc.

If you don't think that $274 million is large amount, think about how the vast majority of these things never get reported to the authorities; that number should be higher.

Source for quote: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/data

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 5 points 2 days ago

No. Some jobs are hourly and some are salary.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I live in Canada. We get a half-hour lunch that isn't paid in my province.

Also, if you take more than 3 sick days a year, your boss can fire you. And the 3 sick days are unpaid. The government lowered the number from 10 to 3 shortly before the pandemic, and didn't raise it again! Oh, and to count, your boss can demand a doctor's note. Which cost money to the patient.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Damn, Canada is becoming less and less a viable escape plan from American fascism...

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

There might still be some decent provinces.

But yeah, I blame brain drain, cuts to the education system, and the influence of American culture! Haha

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That’s so toxic! I get an hour long paid lunch break, and a bunch of paid sick days. Your work’s policies are shit, I’m so sorry!

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's not my work's policies. I get better than that. It's what my province legally mandates that's the problem.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh shit, sorry! I’m so happy you get better than that. Those are garbage mandates that predatory businesses for sure take advantage of. I hope your stuff is as good (ideally better) than mine.

It doesn’t affect me but my work also rolled out months of paternity leave which is BAAAAASED

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

Thank you.

I definitely agree with businesses doing right by their employees. I just wish the governments would be doing more to protect ALL employees. I vote based on which parties are looking out for everyone, not based on whatever works best for me because I've got better than the legal minimum.

[–] Decipher0771@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Where do you live, Alberta? Or one of the maritimes??

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That really sounds like one of the flat-lander regions.

I get 21 holidays a year, not counting every second friday off because of my 9x9 compressed-time agreement. If I plan it right, and hit the stats with the comp days, that's 7 weeks off a year. Why, that's almost european. I've just finished my first year at this shop.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Is that by law, or what your employer offers? Because I'm talking about what the law requires.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

It's Ontario! aka. Open for (Big) Business. No longer "Yours to Discover" because it's all been sold off.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You get paid for lunch? Where is that? We don't either in Switzerland

[–] LemmyRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In Spain, if you work more than 6h you have at least a 15 minutes break that almost always is paid. But people usually work 5 or 6h, 1 or 2 hours for lunch (not paid), then the rest.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Ah that's interesting, thanks.

Here in Switzerland if a shift is longer than 5.5 hours it needs to have at minimum 15min unpaid break for lunch by law. Longer than 7 hours means 30min unpaid lunch and longer than 9 hours means an hour unpaid lunch by law. Additionally if the split is uneaven such that the period before or after lunch is over 5.5 hours, then you recursively get another break following the above rule by law. But these are all unpaid and do not count as hours worked.

The usual reality for typical 8.2 h/d office jobs is that people take half an hour to an hour of lunch, unpaid, and companies allow two 15 min paid coffee breaks, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, despite not being forced to by law.

[–] LemmyRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The unpaid break is also the same in the general work law (Estatuto de los Trabajadores) but professions get extra laws that apply to them (convenio del metal, convenio de farmacia, etc) where they can go better than the general law, and most ‘convenio’ pay for that 15 min break. Lunch time? Never paid unless you agree directly with your company, but some nice companies (I don’t have numbers but in my experience in the IT industry may be around 30% of them) give you 10-12€ a day to help pay your lunch or they have cafeterias where you eat for 4 or 5€.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Ah yes we have some general contracts for whole sectors as well that ususally contain better conditions (called Gesamtarbeitsvertrag GAV).

My workplace, also IT, also gives 180 Swiss Franks a month to help with lunch (much appreciated in Zürich, shit's expensive). There are some tax rules concerning workplaces either offering cafeterias or lunch subsidies. I believe 180 is the most they can give you before it counts as a separate form of reportable income that needs to be taxed. I think this is common for office jobs, but I also don't have hard numbers.

[–] benni@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Same in Germany, I think this common in many countries, no?

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ha! Hour. You’re funny. Federal law only gives half an hour.

[–] Deadrek@lemmy.today 6 points 2 days ago

Ha! Nah, Federal law doesn't require a lunch period, or breaks, at all. It's all state side.

Only thing is that if an employer gives a short break, like 5-20 mins, it must be paid and included in overtime.

[–] amelia@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago

Where do you get paid for your lunch hour? I'm in Germany and while work life balance is certainly a thing here, more so than in the US, a paid lunch break is something I have never heard about.

[–] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago

Depends on the state, in my state you legally have to get paid for 30 minute lunches but not hour long lunches. No idea why but because of this most office jobs will give you an hour lunch in addition to your mandated 2, 10 minute breaks.

Honestly I would love to just take a 30 minute break and get out earlier. It's not even about the money.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 2 points 2 days ago

Typically no but my current employer pays us for 1/2 of our 1 hour lunch.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Spaniard here. Not only does my company not pay me for lunch time. It also demands it to be at least 30 minutes long. How is it even legal to force my unpaid time to be a minimum amount?

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's probably a law. Mandatory minimum breaks make perfect sense for factory workers.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

They should be paid though

[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

For the record, lunch time is not considered paid time in Sweden either.

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 3 days ago

I work 10’s and we get 2 paid 20 minute breaks that are actually usually 25-30 depending on how caught up we all are individually since they let you walk away early if you’re caught up and how long after you get up, go to the bathroom, get some coffee , put your stuff up.

They’re actually pretty chill as long as you stay caught up

[–] ArgentRaven@lemmy.world 41 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Those old tv shows where they casually eat breakfast before work make more sense. They weren't up at 6, rushing to get to work by 8. They had a whole hour more.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 days ago

They also had someone to make it for them. One income was enough for the household.

Is the part about being able to socialize also a mythic fantasy? Where ever do people work that they find the time to have conversations?