Brenda would be getting a nasty reply as I show my eagerness to quit working for fucking asshats like that.

I suppose this shit is from u$ or another such savage country. In Europe the company would pay a huge penalty for putting pressure to limit the break time.

corporate speak is revolting.

Brenda must have a real hardon for the recruitment process...

Employees have rights in the US?

"Never stop working" definitely is illegal in many places.

Some of us do, and our employers hate it and try to keep us from knowing/using those rights

The buc-ee's simping is so weird to me. It's just a gas station with a gift shop. Like, I get it, it's got nice bathrooms, nobody is disagreeing, but so many road trips with big groups somebody wants to go there and spend like 30 minutes shopping. I hate it.

Even in Latin American countries where protections are weaker, this would be considered wildly unacceptable. Only Americans would do this

Tupperware is treason

Same but it was a liquid lunch tbf

In Germany it's 45 minutes break if you work more than 9 hours.

This email reminds me of the literal month that I lasted at the Costco world headquarters..... Never again 🫩

Ah I see you’re implementing some out of the box productivity boosting by altering the mindset goals and quarterly observation deadlines.

(Brenda is the new Karen?)

The French would never do that. They take an hour and a half for lunch and go to a restaurant that serves wine and a choice of cheeses.

Let's correct this behaviour :-)

it sounds like an evil nursery worker

Lmao eat a bag o’ dicks Brenda

Living the American dream I guess.

Everybody want to come here!
Yeah for sure /s

If that had happened in Germany, Brenda would have provably committed an administrative offence and should stop unless they want to go to jail:

§ 4 Rest breaks

Work shall be interrupted by predetermined rest breaks of at least 30 minutes for working hours of more than six to nine hours and 45 minutes for working hours of more than nine hours in total. The rest breaks referred to in sentence 1 may be divided into periods of at least 15 minutes each. Employees may not be employed for more than six consecutive hours without a rest break.

§ 22 Penalty provisions

(1) An employer commits an administrative offence if they intentionally or negligently

1. contrary to § 4, do not grant rest breaks, do not grant them for the prescribed minimum duration or do not grant them in a timely manner

(2) In the cases referred to in paragraph 1, nos. 1 to 7, 9 and 10, the administrative offence may be punished with a fine of up to thirty thousand euros [...].

§ 23 Penal provisions

(1) Any person who commits one of the acts specified in Section 22(1) Nos. 1 to 3, 5 to 7

1. intentionally and thereby endangers the health or working capacity of an employee, or
2. persistently repeats,
   shall be punished with imprisonment for up to one year or a fine.

In my decades of work in the UK (from nightshift shelf stacker to software architect) I've never not had one hour.

Correct bad behavior is all Jack Torrance was trying to do.

Also she didn't laminate her email so it's not valid anyway

It can real.

We need to make Brenda famous...like Astronomer Cold Play Famous

Ehh I'm satisfied with 30 minutes to heat up or otherwise prepare my lunch. I'd want a sofa to sleep on if my break was any longer than that.

It’s like a Walmart, Cracker Barrel, and a Sheetz had some unholy abomination of a child. I went exactly once to see what gives everyone such a hard-on, and couldn’t get out fast enough.

That’s what unions are for ultimately. Educate you about your rights and help enforce them. But uuhhh no that’s dirty communism so forget about them.

Woah.

Spill the tea!

Costco has a huge reputation of being really worker friendly. There are fb groups of people providing tips and tricks on how to improve their chances at working at Costco, like they were trying to get into Harvard.

So this is fascinating

Like everything, it depends on how influential the company is.

I reported a restaurant job for wage theft, and when I was terminated, got a nice paycheck from the local government a few months later.

Major telecom company that rhymes with Bomcast as customer service. I had a manager demand that work means "when you're at your desk", so lunch, walking to your desk, bathroom breaks, aren't supposed to be tracked as work. People we're eating at their desk and working just to meet the definition.

Lawsuit went nowhere.

Our CEO restructured the company when he felt our department was "too cliquish".

In the UK, workers are legally entitled to at least a 20 minute break for every six hours they work, and generally contracts and an employee handbook can offer more. If this was a British firm, Brenda would be feeling the wrath of HR if they caught wind of this.

That can be annoying too, I'd rather get home to my family 15 minutes sooner. But of course Brenda isn't offering a short lunch and leave earlier.

The Brenda person seems like someone that'd get featured in LinkedinLunatics.

Two things stand out to me: "work family" and "support your co-workers."

I don't "support my co-workers," I do my job, and they do theirs. When one of us isn't there, the other one keeps working. Nobody is waiting around for me to finish my lunch. I'm not holding anything up. Tell THEM to get to work, not me. I'm on lunch.

And "work family?" Get fucked with that nonsense. It's my job, not my family. I love my family, I will die for my family. I will NEVER die for my job. You have me for 40 hours a week. The rest is MINE. You don't even have the right to request any of MY time, without compensation.

The value of my excess labor belongs to ME.

This also runs afoul of US labor laws. Every 8 hour shift must be given at least a 30 minute unpaid lunch break. The difference is white collar hours have no tracking mechanism, so therefore no great enforcement mechanism. In an hourly role your supervisor will ensure that whatever you do, you don't punch in until after your 30 minutes are up.

It wasn't uncommon for people to be salaried so they could pay less than they would hourly making people work up to 70 hours a week. A lot of these slaves are called analysts in the us white collar world.

Illegal in California

Boom box in the break room, got it.

The proper response isn't to quit, It to send a response that says that the law requires a break, and you intend to follow the law, even if my supervisor demands that I break the law. I will not follow an illegal directive.

I'm the future, I will take all legal breaks, for their full amount of time.

Further, I will be saving this email as evidence, in case of any future lawsuits by any employees. Any future discussion of this subject will be shared with the state department of labor.

And I would copy HR.

“Illegal” who enforces that lol. You complain to get fired unless you have a legal team ready to go against a corrupt corporation. I’ve watched companies break all kinds of laws my entire life and it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

They'd just find a bullshit reason to let you go, then break more laws sharing disallowed details about your employment.

Sadly, in the US at least, the regulatory capture is complete. Any company acting like this (blatantly breaking labor laws and ignoring worker rights) knows they'll pay less than the cost of keeping the water cooler full in the off chance the labor board sends them more than a mildly worded letter.

Edit: I was feeling pretty pessimistic when I wrote this, I didn't intend it you come across as "don't try" but I can certainly see how it comes across that way.
We should all be holding the companies and the regulatory agencies accountable, and not letting them get away with breaking laws. Enough people making enough noise can't be swept under the rug.

I'm not so sure. With that letter, and your response, its going to be hard for them to claim that your firing wasn't retaliatory.

"My apologies, this wasnt brought forward in the interview stage. If it continues to be a problem I will.be reachable on this email address."

Brenda

On behalf of the team, i volunteer to spend my 30 min calling dept of labor...

If it is a private company with a 'work family' mentality they'll ignore it entirely on the gamble those kinds of entities never hire, or pay, anyone enough to afford a wrongful termination lawsuit.

And if so, they'll be willing to lie under oath. They're already willing to break the law. They'll have the remaining employees, in the rare odds they're deposed, do the same. If they're already working through lunch, they'll sign a document for their boss that says you stole something.

Except you've got an email where the boss specifically advises you to break the law. They can lie all they want, but that email clearly outlines their illegal policy and expectations.

They can lie, but a judge might declare that to be perjury in light of that email.

Time to talk to HR about IBS and a possible medical discrimination lawsuit.

That's illegal in the US too.

The OP has a pretty solid case, the manager laid it out in writing.
This should immediately get forwarded to HR, upper management. Depending on their response, everything goes to the Department of Labour.

The hard part is proving retaliation, (also illegal). Calling out these types of "team player" people leads to indirect stuff like poor performance reviews, smaller raises, denied PTO, and getting passed up for promotion because you didn't play on their team.

Illegal even in Florida. If you have to clock out for breaks you get 1/2 hour minimum lunch on an 8 hour shift. Plus I think 2 paid 15 minute breaks, on the clock. I can't imagine this is real because no manager would document the illegal request in an email.