my co worker has different hours then the rest of our department. it is required that I take an hour for lunch and must work 8 to 5. my co worker however has only to take 30 minute lunch and leave at 4:30. we recently adopted the paylocity web pay program and have to clock in and out for lunch. how can one employee have different hours and works 2.5 less than the rest of us? Is this illegal in PA. ugh
If you work from 8 to 5 and take an hour lunch, and your co-worker works from 8 to 4:30 and takes a half hour lunch, you each work 8 hours a day/40 hours for a 5 day week. The other employee doesn’t work for less time than the rest of you.
In addition to slopy math, I would point out that the employee’s work schedule is an agreement between the employee and the employer. Why would it be “illegal?” The government doesn’t care one way or the other. If you don’t like it, why don’t you talk to your boss instead of random internet people?
Maybe he needs the earlier time to catch a train?
You should tell that employee to take an hour lunch and leave at 4:00.
Presto! Problem solved.
It can be illegal. For example, the lunch time thing- in some states it’s unpaid and can be mandatory. For some jobs in some states, it’s paid, etc. So yes, the government does care.
Please try to answer the questions and leave the snark for the BBQ Pit, eh?
I still don’t see what difference that makes to the question. Even if state law mandates a certain amount of lunch time, the state doesn’t decide work schedules. You’ll have to spell this out for me.
It does not look like Pennsylvania has any mandatory laws regarding lunch breaks for non-minor workers (or the time required for such breaks).
Whether the OP’s employer has a policy about lunch breaks is a different issue, but it doesn’t sound like there’s any law being broken.
If the OP’s math is correct, the OP’s co-worker is working the same number of hours per day as everyone else, I’d have to guess that the co-worker has negotiated an earlier punch-out time with the supervisor, in exchange for a shorter lunch break. (Perhaps the co-worker needs to get home earlier, retrieve kids from daycare, etc.)
I don’t see an actual problem here, as long as:
- The co-worker is, indeed, only taking 30 minutes for lunch.
- The co-worker has cleared this change with management.
- That shortened lunch isn’t in violation of a company policy (the OP’s mention of “it is required that I must take an hour for lunch” and “must work 8 until 5” suggest that this may be the case)
- The co-worker departing at 4:30 doesn’t place an extra level of work on the other employees – for example, if the employees all work at a help desk or retail store, and share the workload among them, then the early departure leaves the company short-staffed for that last half-hour, and leaves the other employees responsible for picking up the slack.
I’m going to guess that the OP wants the option to take a half hour lunch and leave earlier, too. That’s what everyone does in my office. We stagger our 8 hours from 7am to 5:30pm and as long as someone’s here during those hours everyone’s happy.
If the situation is that the half hour lunch option isn’t offered to everyone, then there may be room for griping. However, the 1/2 hour lunch with 1/2 hour leaving earlier may be part of a reasonable accommodation due to some sort of situation the coworker has worked out with HR. You never know.
It might be against the law if it was done systematically to discriminate against a protected class.
For instance, all of us belong to at least protected classes: sex, race, nationality. Sexual orientation is probably also protected per an EEOC ruling but that’s yet to be court tested.
In addition age is protected if you’re over 40. If you’re 39 sorry you’re not yet protected. 
While it might not be fair, it doesn’t seem illegal. For instance, some employees may be required to wear uniforms and other not.
Also there may be a legal reason behind it. Here’s an example: The Americans with Disabilities Act, requires employers to make a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability. Perhaps this person needs to leave at 4:30 to go to a therapist session. Having a half hour lunch instead of a full hour, is certainly a reasonable accommodation request and would have to be honored.
As you can see fair doesn’t mean illegal and employers can discriminate so long as they don’t do it against a protected class of citizens.
we all would like to leave at 4:30, the problem is that he’s the only one who gets to the option of taking 30 minutes for lunch. The other 4 of us must stay til 5 and cannot cut our lunch to 30 minutes. yes his workload does fall on us. it just seems like favoritism. Regardless of what he has to do after work, he should not get special treatment. I am at work for 9 hours and get paid for 8. He is at work for 8.5 hours and gets paid for 8. something is not right and it is causing dissension in our department. Everyone should be treated the same and no one should get to be at work for 2.5 hours less than everyone else. its like he has a different set of rules than the rest of us. I have talked to my manager and it has gotten me nowhere. we are temporarily without an HR manager for another 2 weeks, so there is no one else to go to. I thought hourly employees should have the same rules down the line.
i was directed to this blog during searches for labor and wage laws - you may not want to contribute however others do - so - jus saying
“Easy. Banana…buck. Banana…take a buck.”
Stranger
He’s not working 2.5 hours less than you, he’s working the same number of hours as you but spending only 30 minutes on lunch instead of an hour. If you’re working at lunch then your employer is breaking the law by not paying you for that hour, if you’re not working during lunch then you’re at work for 4 hours, have an hour break, then are at work for 4 hours, which works out to 8 hours per day.
It’s incredibly common for people to have different schedules and different lunch times, everyone working the exact same time is uncommon in my experience (both office and retail/restaurant). I think you may not be getting anywhere with your manager because it sounds like you’ve got some ideas of how working hours work that don’t match the real world.
Why not? Legally, that’s between him and the employer. If that’s the extent of your question then there’s not much more to day. If you’re concerned about the ethics or morality of the arrangement then the conversation is probably better suited for IMHO or Great Debates.
Bottom line - he’s working 8 hours and getting paid for 8 hours. The fact that he can leave 30 minutes earlier is irrelevant. There’s nothing that requires an employer to offer the same setup to all employees.
Legal issues are best suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
It is quite clear that Pennsylvania has no law requiring that all workers receive identical work schedules, nor does Pennsylvania regulate lunch breaks for non-farm or other adult workers. https://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=563209&mode=2#10
The law also does not require employers to pay for breaks longer than 20 minutes. So it seems pretty clear that you and your coworker are both on the clock for eight hours. Your coworker is surely putting in 30 minutes of work while you are on lunch break, while you are putting in 30 minutes of work while he has left for the day.
I understand that you would prefer to leave earlier, but this appears to be an issue of management practices, rather than of labor law. As noted above, your employer would appear to be free under Pennsylvania law to hire someone to work from 8 to 4 with no lunch break and no assurance that you can get the same deal. ETA: And honestly, have you not had a job where someone else is paid more for doing the same job as you? That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re entitled to that person’s wage level.
Your options are probably the following: 1) negotiate for a better deal with your management, if possible, knowing that you do not have the upper hand in these talks, 2) find a new job, 3) continue grumbling, or 4) understand that maybe this coworker has special circumstances and cut him some slack (if that is indeed the case).
Good luck.
Moderator Note
Please try to answer the question without junior modding, either. No warning issued.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
And during the half hour he’s back on the clock and the rest of you are still at lunch, what is he doing?
You haven’t said what your job is.
Is it possible he’s taking your(the 4 of you) workload during his half hour back on the clock?
I have several hourly employees and they all work slightly different schedules. As long as the bulk of the business hours are covered, it should be fine.
Follow up with HR if you like. There may be some underlying issues why this person has to leave early that are none of your business.