Column: All in favor of protected, paid breaks for employees
I have been in the workforce since I was sixteen years old. I started working in Georgia, and slowly moved to South Carolina as I began thinking about going to the University of South Carolina - Aiken.
Breaks of any kind are not required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or state law in both Georgia and South Carolina. Many states have some form of extra protection for minors, but Georgia and South Carolina have absolutely nothing.
Most of the employers I have worked for have their own policy enforcing breaks. The first regular job I had was as a cashier at Firehouse Subs where employees are allowed a 15 minute break for every four hours worked. These, and other short break periods lasting 29 minutes or less, are required by the FLSA to be paid.
I did not know about the FLSA protection until I worked at Collection Receivables, Incorporated as a skip tracer and legal clerk. At this job, my coworkers and I were intentionally intimidated, discriminated against and objectified. We were stripped of several bonuses we earned, vilified for a 1.3% margin of error, forced to quarantine outside of work and required to clock out for mandatory 15 minute breaks. If the Georgia Department of Labor rectified these discrepancies, it was not brought to my attention.
The federal and state governments take a combined 18% of my earned income each paycheck. As a part-time employee, this means that every two weeks, I work at least three and a half hours for free.
While I can empathize with the dogmatic assertion that America was founded on hard-work, the work-life balance is hardly sustainable as it is. If you are working for minimum wage that is not updated regularly to account for inflation, the situation is dismal. If I have no choice but to be profited off of by my employer and work for free for the man, I should at least have the right to take one or two short breaks during the day.
In terms of implementation, a state law would have to be established to afford employees 10 to 30 minute breaks for four to six hours worked. Not only am I calling for these breaks to become mandatory, they should be paid for by the company or, in exchange for certain, limited tax breaks, the employer should cover it.
