You always hear the phase “9 to 5” and also the song with the same name. Assuming you include 1 hour worth of breaks (30 minute lunch and two 15 minute breaks), you’re only working for 7 hours a day which comes up to 35 hours a week.

Now it feels like you have to work 8 hours a day (for a total of 40 hours of actual work), plus your other time off meaning you’re really there for 9 hours each day (for a total of 45 hours). Am i looking at that wrong, or did expected times change, and if so, when?

  • totallynotaspy@fedia.io
    5·
    7 hours ago

    That’s just salaried folks though. The vast majority of american workers are hourly or contractors. Per the Dept of Labor’s own site:

    The Wage and Hour Division is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the welfare of the nation’s workforce with a focus on low-wage, underserved workers. In fiscal year 2023, we successfully recovered over $274 million in back wages and damages for more than 163,000 workers nationwide.

    Wage theft is when employers don’t properly pay their employees and is a HUGE problem because it isn’t always out of malevolence, it can be as simple as the time clock not properly computing overtime, etc.

    If you don’t think that $274 million is large amount, think about how the vast majority of these things never get reported to the authorities; that number should be higher.

    Source for quote: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/data