A bill that would repeal the right to a lunch break has been approved by a committee of the Kentucky state legislature.
The measure would also remove the right to 10-minute breaks if approved by the full Kentucky House of Representatives.
The bill would also would not have to pay minimum wage for anything that is not considered the “principal” work activity. That could include putting on a work uniform or other preparations.
It would also eliminate the need to pay time and a half overtime on the seventh consecutive day of work for people working at least 40 hours a week, as well as preventing employers from being punished for not paying minimum wage and overtime pay when employees travel to and from their place of work.
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The Republican-led House Small Business and Information Technology Committee approved the measure in a partisan 9-4 vote on Wednesday.
The bill is sponsored by the committee’s chair, Republican Phillip Pratt, who owns a landscaping business called Pratt’s Lawn and Landscape.
“People, safety, and quality are more than a priority, they are a value,” the company states on its website.
During a committee debate on the bill, Democrat Rachel Roberts asked Pratt if he had consulted the Labor and Education Cabinet, labor groups or his own landscaping employees about the bill.
Pratt said he resented any implication that he had filed the bill to help himself, the Kentucky Lantern reported.
Newsweek sought email comment from Pratt on Sunday through his landscape business.
House Bill 500 would repeal current state legislation that requires employers to allow workers a lunch break for every three to five hours of work completed. The bill, if it becomes law, would require employers to pay workers while they are eating instead of giving them a break.
Proponents say the bill would bring the state closer to federal law, but critics argue it could decrease workplace safety.
Democrats unanimously voted against the bill, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Pratt said it would bring the state in line with federal law. “You have federal law, which says you must do this; then you have state law, which says you’ve got to do that. To run afoul of them becomes very easy,” he added, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The bill was criticized by Michele Henry, a Louisville employment law attorney at Craig Henry PLC, who told the Herald Leader that “simply unfair to employees who are spending eight or more hours a day at the workplace.”
“They should be entitled to time off to eat and to engage in other activities,” Henry said. “Eliminating breaks increases the chance of injuries and burnout.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.