4 ms·

Aren't there already laws that grant breaks during work? Does Hollywood not abide by those? Who polices that sort of thing? (Also not very pro-union.)

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
breadzeppelin__ 5y ago
Not related to hollywood but I worked wildland fire for the local sheriff for a couple years and the 'mandated lunch breaks' were pretty much bullshit. MAYBE 15 minutes to stop and eat (often not even sitting down), then get back to work but had to report at least a half hour of unpaid downtime on the shift report at the end of the day. No wonder that area expertise is also hemorrhaging skilled workers. Luckily it was only part time for me but those guys are really getting fucked over between low pay and the ridiculous breaks
mchusma 5y ago
They have to abide by them, which is what I can't understand here. I'm in California and the laws are strict, it's easy to sue, and the companies involved (e.g. Disney) are giant. So I just can't see them getting away with violating labor laws. I assume they are looking for protection above and beyond what the law requires? I can't find the actual demands anywhere. The website and links are all basically propaganda links (no section that says "this is what we are asking for").
- tessierashpool 5y ago
  > I just can't see them getting away with violating labor laws tell me you have never in your working life gone anywhere near the entertainment industry without telling me you have never in your working life gone anywhere near the entertainment industry.
slownews45 5y ago
No - those laws do not apply in Hollywood. This is in part because with a CBA (union agreement) the union can bargain away rights you might otherwise have under law. This can also be because wage orders (ie #12) modify rules or provide for exceptions. And then even if on a union set, some things will be ignored (despite all the safety talk from the unions some trades find some of the safety practices a bit overboard or impractical -> looking at you fall prevention standards etc) especially for old timers who started before some of the safety rules came in (juicers / grips etc). So union lunch break rules etc control - but can be ignored, and enforcement would be through a grievance usually vs a court case in some cases etc.
oceanghost 5y ago
I worked at a Walmart 20 years ago that would lock employees in at night-- even when their shifts were over, in an attempt to get them to work extra hours. My first gig out of college-- the company said they didn't pay vacations or holidays for the first 6 months. I had no idea this was illegal in California, but one of the other hires did and got them in some major amount of trouble for it. They also asked me to sign a non-compete, I knew that was illegal and told them "I'll sign if you want, but these are illegal in California so its unenforceable." And they also forbade me from talking about my compensation, which is illegal. I later found out some people were making half what I was, and some people were making significantly more than I was. During the negotiations they told me they absolutely couldn't go over number X, when in fact that was not true. Of course they didn't want people comparing salaries. Employment is the wild west. A law just means you have some recourse when they do a thing, not that they won't do it.
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  Apparently Walmart has made some changes for the better then. I worked there for a 2ish years, right up to COVID. You'd get in trouble (and your boss too!) for working very much overtime. Also you'd get in trouble if you didn't take at least a 30 minute lunch break, and you'd get in serious trouble for working off the clock. Walmart probably got too many lawsuits or something.
  - oceanghost 5y ago
    Two things happened in California (I don't know if you're in CA of course) started cracking down on employers making employees work through their breaks--and-- forcing employers to actually pay for hours worked with severe penalties. This is why they're so strict now, at least in CA. Then they got walloped with a lawsuit about it. I actually used the situation to my advantage. Once I realized what was going on-- I snuck out the loading dock which was never closed and took leisurely lunches. It was assumed you couldn't get out, so you hadn't. I can't have been the only Walmart rogue who realized this, but I never saw anyone else do it. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wal-mart-attacked-for-locking-in-overnight-workers-at-its-stores-74288.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wal-mart-a...
toast0 5y ago
> Aren't there already laws that grant breaks during work? Last I looked (when working a 24/7 single person operations desk in California), you could just pay extra hours instead of having a 'mandated' break. For that role, having a legal break wasn't really feasible for most of the shifts. How are you going to get someone to cover for 30 minutes only at 4 am in the middle of the graveyard shift? Anyway, that wasn't too bad, I did 4 pm to midnight and noon to midnight shifts, and it was OK to wander out for a few minutes to pick up takeout and eat at the desk. Lots of waiting around looking at the screen that stayed green most of the time. (Restart daemons when things turned red) Generally incidents only happened while developers were in the office, and there was one time the datacenter called to report a power outage, but it turned out it was just the breaker on the lighting circuit.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

breadzeppelin__ 5y ago

Not related to hollywood but I worked wildland fire for the local sheriff for a couple years and the 'mandated lunch breaks' were pretty much bullshit. MAYBE 15 minutes to stop and eat (often not even sitting down), then get back to work but had to report at least a half hour of unpaid downtime on the shift report at the end of the day. No wonder that area expertise is also hemorrhaging skilled workers. Luckily it was only part time for me but those guys are really getting fucked over between low pay and the ridiculous breaks

mchusma 5y ago

They have to abide by them, which is what I can't understand here. I'm in California and the laws are strict, it's easy to sue, and the companies involved (e.g. Disney) are giant. So I just can't see them getting away with violating labor laws. I assume they are looking for protection above and beyond what the law requires? I can't find the actual demands anywhere. The website and links are all basically propaganda links (no section that says "this is what we are asking for").

tessierashpool 5y ago
> I just can't see them getting away with violating labor laws tell me you have never in your working life gone anywhere near the entertainment industry without telling me you have never in your working life gone anywhere near the entertainment industry.

slownews45 5y ago

No - those laws do not apply in Hollywood. This is in part because with a CBA (union agreement) the union can bargain away rights you might otherwise have under law. This can also be because wage orders (ie #12) modify rules or provide for exceptions. And then even if on a union set, some things will be ignored (despite all the safety talk from the unions some trades find some of the safety practices a bit overboard or impractical -> looking at you fall prevention standards etc) especially for old timers who started before some of the safety rules came in (juicers / grips etc). So union lunch break rules etc control - but can be ignored, and enforcement would be through a grievance usually vs a court case in some cases etc.

oceanghost 5y ago

I worked at a Walmart 20 years ago that would lock employees in at night-- even when their shifts were over, in an attempt to get them to work extra hours. My first gig out of college-- the company said they didn't pay vacations or holidays for the first 6 months. I had no idea this was illegal in California, but one of the other hires did and got them in some major amount of trouble for it. They also asked me to sign a non-compete, I knew that was illegal and told them "I'll sign if you want, but these are illegal in California so its unenforceable." And they also forbade me from talking about my compensation, which is illegal. I later found out some people were making half what I was, and some people were making significantly more than I was. During the negotiations they told me they absolutely couldn't go over number X, when in fact that was not true. Of course they didn't want people comparing salaries. Employment is the wild west. A law just means you have some recourse when they do a thing, not that they won't do it.

BenjiWiebe 5y ago
Apparently Walmart has made some changes for the better then. I worked there for a 2ish years, right up to COVID. You'd get in trouble (and your boss too!) for working very much overtime. Also you'd get in trouble if you didn't take at least a 30 minute lunch break, and you'd get in serious trouble for working off the clock. Walmart probably got too many lawsuits or something.
- oceanghost 5y ago
  Two things happened in California (I don't know if you're in CA of course) started cracking down on employers making employees work through their breaks--and-- forcing employers to actually pay for hours worked with severe penalties. This is why they're so strict now, at least in CA. Then they got walloped with a lawsuit about it. I actually used the situation to my advantage. Once I realized what was going on-- I snuck out the loading dock which was never closed and took leisurely lunches. It was assumed you couldn't get out, so you hadn't. I can't have been the only Walmart rogue who realized this, but I never saw anyone else do it. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wal-mart-attacked-for-locking-in-overnight-workers-at-its-stores-74288.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wal-mart-a...

toast0 5y ago

> Aren't there already laws that grant breaks during work? Last I looked (when working a 24/7 single person operations desk in California), you could just pay extra hours instead of having a 'mandated' break. For that role, having a legal break wasn't really feasible for most of the shifts. How are you going to get someone to cover for 30 minutes only at 4 am in the middle of the graveyard shift? Anyway, that wasn't too bad, I did 4 pm to midnight and noon to midnight shifts, and it was OK to wander out for a few minutes to pick up takeout and eat at the desk. Lots of waiting around looking at the screen that stayed green most of the time. (Restart daemons when things turned red) Generally incidents only happened while developers were in the office, and there was one time the datacenter called to report a power outage, but it turned out it was just the breaker on the lighting circuit.