I told them so!

For the longest time, as a temp or contract employee, I wanted to put in my 8 hours and go home. I wanted to eat lunch at my desk, not take a break, and leave 8 hours after I got there -- not 8.5 hours after I got there having taken a mandatory break at some point near or around lunchtime.

I just heard about the Brinker case. I know, I'm late hearing about it. The opinion I'm currently reading was filed on 7/22/08. I've only gotten a couple paragraphs in, and I haven't researched to make sure it hasn't already been overturned (I don't have access to the database systems that let a person do that easily, and it's doubtful that this has reached the Shepard guides in the law library at JFK University down the street from where I live)...

But basically, the gist is what I always told all my employers and coworkers -- the wage and hour laws requiring that employers provide meal breaks and rest breaks are there for the worker's benefit. This means that employers are required to provide them, but workers are not required to take them.

For some reason, all my employers disagreed with this and required that our timesheets reflect a half hour taken for lunch (and required that our timesheets also accurately reflect hour actual hours). As a result, I found that my timesheets accurately reflected my overall time in the office, but not the specific hours... and claimed a lunch break when I didn't take one. Either that, or if I had an employer who micromanaged, I'd spend a half hour snacking and surfing the web, then leave later and be miserable in the inevitably worse rush hour traffic. I figured that the employers just wanted to be able to prove that they gave us lunch breaks and didn't want anyone who chose to skip their breaks being able to come back and claim that the employer didn't allow them the break.

But now, the courts in California have agreed with MY interpretation.

I feel so vindicated. :)

lacking productivity...

what happened? I'm procrastinating on something for sure, but managed to be completely unproductive in doing so?

I start work at my new job tomorrow, where the dress code is business-casual, and I haven't gotten around to trying on my business-casual trousers and tops to see whether they still fit, let alone gone shopping for any needed replacement bits. This wouldn't be that big of a deal (seeing as my new boss is my Dad), but apparently he's scheduled a meeting with our big client for Tuesday morning at the client's offices. ... so I'm feeling the pressure to look snazzy even though the client's dress code trends more toward casual.

Oy.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow when trying to decide what to wear. Good thing I'm planning on waking up significantly earlier than necessary...