Quit due to not having breaks or uninterrupted lunches for 2 1/2 years

by Roxanne
(Santa Cruz, CA, USA)

Hello, I have a question. I quit my job last week after 2 1/2 years when my boss reprimanded me because I was making too many mistakes.

I advised her I was completely burnt out. I was employed for 2 1/2 years, 8.5 - 9 hours a day, 4 days a week, zero vacations, no morning or afternoon breaks, lunch at my desk with constant interruptions. My boss became hostile and unsympathetic when I told her I was burnt out. She expected me to work either more hours after work or on Fridays (still without rest periods). Will I qualify for unemployment benefits? I am filing a claim with the labor dept for the breaks I never received.

Roxanne





Hi Roxanne,

I'll assume you were getting paid for all the hours you worked as you didn't mention anything else to look into except that you were not getting breaks.

So, for me I'm first wondering what good that complaint to the labor department will really do after the fact of quitting .. or is that complaint due to the fact your boss wasn't sympathetic to you?

Next thing I wondered .. what does California labor law require of an employer with regard to regular breaks and mealtime breaks.

Other than that, I'd say your typical 36 hour work week eating lunch at your desk .. interrupted and never a vacation might be a good boohoo story for some readers, but I know it's a lousy unemployment story to get benefits with.

You'd know that too if you had the capacity to think objectively like getting unemployment demands.

I wonder if I could have had good cause to quit when my former employer recalled me as a temp after laying me off. I no longer had the PTO nor health benefits. They refused to pay overtime, but I needed the forty hours to pay the bills and didn't want to expend the energy of fighting "poor performance issues" with the employer so like the idiot I was .. I just kept right on working that 70 hours a week to keep up until my health gave out again.

But, I know we all have different levels of tolerance and abilities to think in a critical fashion ..

It's just that my personal opinion is you need to raise both.

Chris