r/LaborLaw

i’m located in california. won’t say the company i work for, but it’s a large fast food chain. been back from a small break for the last month, and every single day at least one person has taken a paid break and/or meal.

it’s getting to the point where it isn’t a one off, hence a growing irritation with it. management will not accommodate to give people breaks, but my question is, are they required to? when i say this, i mean they would rather keep mobile orders + drive thru + cafe open simultaneously while being understaffed, AND the people who decided to show up need and deserve a break. i feel as though it’s only right to shut one or more of those off to give each employee their break.

i kid you not, we are refused when we ask to close ONE of those. supervisors and base level employees are going 5+ hours without a lunch/a 10 minute break, and to my knowledge that’s the violation point for how long you can work before you have to take some kind of rest or meal (legally in CA at least). i would like to report this somewhere, but im not sure if it’s reportable. some insight on any facts or misunderstandings on my behalf would be appreciated

It seems like a lot of these post are people legitimately dealing with a shitty work situation and are looking for somewhere to turn. Why the downvotes? Some of the post have dozens of comments but are still downvoted. I don't get it.

Is that not the purpose for this sub?

I am the owner/manager of a company in Germany, and we recently had an issue involving unauthorized use of a software product.

The software manufacturer/parent company allegedly detected unauthorized use at our company through our IP address and a MAC address.
They subsequently contacted us about the matter.
To resolve the issue and avoid the matter escalating further, we agreed to purchase a licence through a local reseller. The cost of this was €XX,XXX.XX .

Based on the information available to us, we believe that the unauthorized use was caused by one of our interns, who had used the software during their internship.

We subsequently sent the intern an email stating words along the lines of:
“Your unauthorized use cost the company €XX,XXX.XX . ".
We also forwarded the relevant email exchange with the reseller showing the licence offer/cost.

We did not explicitly ask the intern to reimburse us, state that they are legally liable for the amount, or give them a deadline for payment.
We simply informed them that their unauthorized use had resulted in this cost to the company.

My questions are:

1. Does the wording of our email amount to a claim against the intern, or would we need to explicitly demand reimbursement?
2. Could the intern’s failure to respond be interpreted as accepting responsibility or liability?
3. If we believe the intern is personally responsible for the cost, what would we need to do to formally pursue reimbursement?
4. Are there particular issues with holding an intern/employee personally liable for this kind of software licensing cost under German law?
5. Does the fact that the software manufacturer identified the company’s IP/MAC address and we subsequently purchased a licence establish sufficient grounds for us to attribute the cost to the intern?

We are not trying to improperly pressure the former intern; we mainly want to understand whether the email we sent already has legal significance and what the appropriate next step would be if we believe reimbursement is warranted.

I’m going through what feels like a major episode/chapter/monsoon of mental fog caused by menopause, adhd and grief all at once. Today at work I noticed I couldn’t function well and I am very alarmed and worried my boss and supervisor pull the trigger and let me go. One of them actually said I should try and get FMLA but I know FMLA doesn’t apply to the loss of a pet.

I see a therapist and a psychiatrist but they said they don’t do FMLA paperwork. I am seeing another one next week hoping they can help, but I feel like that’s too far away and everyday that goes by I feel at risk of losing my job. This place is a VERY toxic and rigid workplace and has little no empathy for these things.

I just came back from a one week vacation so I don’t even want to take more time off. I’m so stressed out, not sure how to proceed and I also don’t make great money enough to run to a lawyer.

Any tips, suggestions, help would be greatly appreciated.

I work for a company that is opening a new location, but not closing the current location. My current commute is 30 min and the company is forcing half of us to transfer to the new location that is 2+ hours away. Is there anything that I can say to fight having to go?

is PTO not mandatory in a job contract?

i'm surprised i saw a post someone wishing they can finally get a job with PTO

I work for a company in which we are entitled to a 1 hour unpaid meal break that can be taken at any time during our work shift. I use my meal break to pick up my children at the end of the day. As a result, I voluntarily don’t take a lunch break. However, I’m required to clock out at the end of my shift. This has been a previously agreed upon arrangement with my employer.

The company is now attempting to crack down on this policy and no longer offer schedule adjustments outside of dr appointments. They are claiming that by not taking a lunch, it violates NYS labor laws. Can anyone provide any input?

*edit: not saying they have to do this. Just questioning if it’s technically “not legal” based on labor laws if it’s agreed upon.

Sorry for the long post…
Location: California

I’m in California and my wage claim is moving to a Berman hearing for unpaid vacation wages and penalties. I worked for a small company from 2021-April 2026. There was no handbook or written vacation policy. Starting in 2022, we were verbally told we received one week of paid vacation each year. My paystubs from 2022-2025 specifically show VACATION/PTO, and I have a text from my employer saying “You get a weeks paid vacation each year”. There was never an accrual policy or formula explained to me or an available PTO balance shown on my paystubs. It would only show when the time was applied and in the YTD after that. In May 2022 and March 2025, I used the full 40 hours relatively early in the year and was never told it was being advanced.

I quit in April 2026 after giving two weeks notice. I had an upcoming vacation already acknowledged and approved by my employer through text, but I left before taking it. When I requested payment for my unused 40 hours, they refused and claimed the vacation I’d received over the years was just a “bonus/courtesy/thank-you.”

I filed a DLSE claim and continued asking for payment even offering to withdraw the claim if I was paid. They initially said their HR/payroll company said nothing was owed and if I filed a claim it would go no where, but then said they would have my check ready, but required me to sign a severance/release agreement to receive it. I refused to sign.

Since then, their explanations have changed from no vacation policy, to PTO being a courtesy, to saying I never accrued vacation, and now to arguing that even if vacation existed, I didn’t accrue a the full 40 hours by the time I left in April.

We recently had the DLSE settlement conference. The employer now has an attorney, who apparently didn’t know about my 2022-2024 VACATION/PTO paystubs or the text explicitly saying I get a week of paid vacation each year. Their attorney argued my 2025 PTO was merely a courtesy because the shop was closed and because “2025 was the only year I received paid vacation”, this proved to him this was never a benefit otherwise I would’ve been receiving it regularly throughout my employment… the deputy ended up sharing her screen with all my paystubs and the text message lol

We couldn’t reach a settlement, so it’s now going to a Berman hearing. My main evidence is the 2022-2025 VACATION/PTO paystubs, the “week paid vacation each year” text, texts acknowledging my planned 2026 vacation, my repeated requests for payment, and the severance form they wanted signed for the check.

For anyone familiar with CA employment law/DLSE hearings, how would you present this? I’m especially curious how to respond to their new accrual argument when no accrual formula was ever communicated, and whether conditioning the $840 check on a severance/release affects their defense to waiting-time penalties. I’d also appreciate hearing any weaknesses in my case or arguments I should expect from their attorney during this hearing.

Also, any idea how long it will actually take to get to the hearing? It’s not scheduled yet, but my settlement conference moved fairly quickly from the time I filed.

My mental health accommodation was approved on June 10, 2026. Immediately after, my average hours were slashed from 33.5 down to 16.5 and 12.5 while management hired a new employee and falsely blamed my availability. Several days later, after a dispute with a manager regarding them keeping the store open past hours to meet sales goals, I was placed on an "Assigned to Home" suspension pending an investigation two days later, with promises of pay.

​My July 1 paycheck withheld my suspension pay until requested, keyed it in manually, and calculated it using the retaliatory reduced hours rather than my 33.5-hour historical average. The 25-day suspension left me with no incident report, no policy, and no rent money, causing my electricity to get shut off. When management concluded the investigation, they refused to provide a safety plan, incident reports, or policies, expecting me to return to work under managers facing ongoing agency filings, which effectively forced a conditional discharge and culminated in my wrongful termination on August 12, 2026. So from my accommodation being approved June 10th, my hours were cut by more than 50% 3 days later. 12 days later I as placed on a "paid" suspension that spanned 25 days with my pay withheld throughout the duration. Then involuntarily terminated. All of which took place within 2 months of my accommodation being approved. Prior to my accommodation I averaged $1,000 every pay period. Since my accommodation approval June 10th, until August 12th I received ONE $1,000 check; in 2 months the other's have been $440, $176, $0...

​I won my Unemployment Insurance benefits against my employer's contest, but shortly after, I was in a car accident, broke my jaw, had surgery, and had my benefits paused, leaving me with zero income. Has anyone dealt with a similar retaliation pattern or navigated a termination case under these circumstances?

**Edit: My accommodation was pretty much voluntary, I was allowed four 2 day episodes (call outs) a month.

i (23F) is currently working at a firm. i have to stay here for two more months to complete my work period, however ever since start of July they have stopped paying me saying that my work isnt up to their criteria but along with that they also said that they will pay me if i improve my work. So the whole of july i tried my best, there were days i had to work overtime and they also started using my work. However in August they did not pay me. When i went asking to the head lady (my firm consists of 12 people and its owned by 2) she said "oh it was already informed to you last month. we wont be paying you, your work is irrelevant and we can do it even without you" she continued to call me an office burden and said i should just leave rather than staying as a burden.

A little of backstory now: i work under a guy (lets call him john) and he gives updates to this head lady, when i spoke her about my salary and from the way she was talking it was evident that she did not ask john about my work and if it has improved.

I then asked her for clarity because i need to get paid to survive here. (Im literally borrowing money from my parents at this point. ) She said she will reach back to me with clarifications and where im lacking behind but no updates till now. Since she wasnt giving any updates i called her husband who is also the owner of this firm and spoke to him about this. HE WAS NOT AWARE OF SHIT. All he knew was i fucked up a little in the start and then no updates.

Im working without a pay and they never sent me a mail or gave me any letter saying they wont pay me.

I requested time off work for August 20 because I have my first high-risk maternal appointment at 10:30 AM. I was told the appointment could take several hours because they’ll be doing multiple tests before I meet with the provider to go over the results.

I initially told my employer that if the appointment finished within a reasonable timeframe, I would return to work afterward. However, there are some additional circumstances that make this difficult.

The appointment is about an hour away from my job. My husband is going with me, so after the appointment I would need to drive an hour home to drop him off and then drive another hour back to work. Depending on how long the appointment takes, I could potentially end up driving several hours just to be at work for maybe an hour or so.

My boss responded to my request by saying, “Hey Christina, You'll be expected to be in after the appointment.”

I understand that if I’m able to return, they may expect me to, but I’m wondering how reasonable this is given the circumstances. This is a pregnancy-related high-risk medical appointment, and I’m not trying to avoid work. I’m trying to figure out whether it makes sense to make the additional two hours of driving when I may only have an hour of work left.

Can my employer require me to come in for that short amount of time, or could I request the rest of the day off as a reasonable accommodation for the pregnancy-related appointment?

I’m in Florida, if that matters.

My wife is salary getting paid for 48 hours per week.

Her vacation covers the 48 hours.

She is limited on management.

She has to use her vacation by the end August.

They will not pay out for vacation or extend it.

They are making her split the vacation between two weeks.

She has to work 4 days the first week and 3 or 4 days the next week.

They are only paying her for her vacation (48 hours) and one work week (48 hours).

I feel like they need to pay her for an additional work week I know she is salary but it seems like she is getting shorted on hours.

I worked at this licensed Starbucks for about 6 months up until a few months ago, and it's just hit me that they were including Store Managers and Assistant Managers in end-of-day employee tip-outs. Isn't this illegal? Stupid of me not to realize but I hadn't worked with tips since I was a teenager and even then they were probably breaking the law. Do you think filing a complaint with the Dept of Labor would do anything?

Additionally, some money went "missing" and they instructed my partner who also worked there to gradually take from employee tips over time to build the drawer back up. Isn't this blatantly wage theft???

First of all, I live in Colorado. My job involves me traveling to several different work sites per day and then back home. These work sites are homes, and their distance from the business office can vary greatly. Sometimes I'm in the town I live, sometimes I'm driving 2.5 hours a way to a home in the mountains.

I drive a company truck that I am allowed to take home, but I am not allowed to use for personal reasons. I occasionally visit the shop before I head to my first jobsite, but usually I drive straight from home to my first jobsite

I am classified as an overtime exempt salaried employee, however I am pretty sure this is in error because my work is blue collar in nature, and I don't manage anyone other than myself, nor do I perform any administrative duties.

My question is how does travel time affect my hours worked given all these details? I've looked at federal labor law and my state labor laws and it simply is not specific enough for my particular situation. My workload does not change in relation to my drive time, so when I have to drive 2.5 hours away, my days can end up being 11-12 hours long, of which I'm only being paid for 8. For reference, the shop is only 15 minutes from my house.

I appreciate any input on the matter.

Theoretic question - if you prove someone has been misclassified as a 1099 (should be a w2), but that person's compensation was higher when he moved to a 1099 taking into account those lost w2 benefits (401k match, healthcare, and sick leave/vacation), does the offset basically void possible damages? I understand if misclassification is proved the person could get paid back those SE taxes and the employer would owe their half to the IRS, but what about the other lost benefits after the 1099 change?

Haven't been able to find a clear answer on this. Thank you everyone!

Location: Virginia

Hi guys,

I worked from home in Texas, for a tech company

I was salaried and worked 8-4pm Monday- Friday

In my first year i worked over 400 hours of unpaid OT

and in the entire time I was there, none of us got any breaks whatsoever at all, including no lunch breaks at all.

Was this legal?

Any ground to take action on my part?

(I have proof, including screenshots from my colleagues also acknowledging and complaining that they have also worked for years with no lunch break)

Thanks in advance,

Warmly,

Gareth

So a friend of mine was fired for labor laws and ultimately received back pay due to talking about workplace conditions so I guess they were wrongly fired , however Another employee sent it to Human Resources ( I guess as revenge)

Can this person get in trouble?
It was an anonymous page however

So I’m a 0.9 FTE exempt and on a salary at my nursing job in California. I was originally supposed to be working six 12 hour shifts totaling to 72 hours per pay period (every two weeks). About a month into my job, management decided they needed us to actually work 10 hour shifts, so I now work seven shifts totaling to 70 hours per pay period.

Since I am technically hired to be working 72 hours a pay period but currently work 70hrs a pay period to meet the scheduling needs, my employer is now asking me to make up the two hours of “extra pay” I get in my salary by working an additional unpaid 10 hour shift every 5th pay period.

Are they allowed to do this?

EDIT:
“Unpaid” isn’t the correct term since it does bring me up to 0.9 FTE. I’m not asking to get paid overtime.

They are asking me to work an additional 10 hr shift every 5th pay period, since they made schedule changes so now have me working 70hrs total per pay period instead of the 72hrs per pay period that they initially hired me for.

So my question is more like, am I obligated to work those extra shifts every 5th pay period to make up those hours? I told them that there are some shifts where I’m working beyond a 10 hour day so can’t that account for those 2 extra hours?

Hey everyone, I am coming to you all for some advice! My friend is a door to door salesman for optimum and was recently placed on unpaid administrative leave, pending the internal investigation.
He was paying customers $25 pay in advance to help drive sales for himself. The question of ethical sales is neither here nor there but is it legal to withhold previous months pay & commission with no clear path on whether he has a job or not?

Any and all advice is welcome. Just feels reaaaaaaaal shady.