We Don't Pay For Your Lunch Break
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- stepson
I've been working full-time (but as a contractor) for 3 weeks at a company while they search for a permanent senior designer.
As requested I've been invoicing week-to-week and only now I've been told "we don't pay for freelancers lunch breaks" and to amend my invoices.
Is that a bit fucked or am I just greedy?
- dopepope0
That happened to me as well. It's annoying. Some places are fine with paying for lunch. Just be sure to enjoy the shit out of those hour lunch breaks.
- VectorMasked0
I was in this same situation a couple of months ago. We never discussed if lunch breaks were paid or not, but I didn't add this time to my invoices. The funny thing is that after the first invoice, despite not billing them for lunch breaks, I got a phone call from them asking me to revise the invoice because they "did not pay for the time used in commuting to the office". I obviously told them that it would be ridiculous to bill them for the time I spent in public transportation.
- e-wo0
Happened to me as well. Differs between each company's culture. I took it as an indication that working temporary was a good choice in that case.
- moldero0
I would rather not get paid for 1 hour of lunch and get contractor wages then get their kick in the balls full time pay with a paid lunch.
- stepson0
^^^ True.. Yeah I don't even really care – the pays awesome, the people are cool enough and they're really happy with my work so it looks like I might get some ongoing freelance work through them... So I just bent over and amended the invoices.
But I can't help thinking there's a savvy retort that would have saved me a few grand..
- monospaced0
I don't know where you come from buy work never pays for your food. Lunch, breakfast or dinner. Charging it is ridiculous. You are paid for your work so that you can use the money for things like food and shelter. That's what work is.
- necromation0
Shit... Is this in the UK? I never had this happen in all the years i've freelanced
- babaganush0
I think it's reasonable if you are charging an hourly rate as opposed to a daily rate. Why would anyone pay a plumber for his lunch break. You give up those benefits as a contractor for more pay.
- You don't get those benefits with a salary either. No work buys your food unless you're on a trip anywaymonospaced
- My company started cutting out paid lunches even on business trips. The economy is that bad.monospaced
- But surely it's 'lunch breaks' not lunch. I.e. If a freelancer takes an hour off for lunch, he aint getting paid.babaganush
- right, see my comment below, I misread himmonospaced
- monospaced0
My bad. Thought you were talking about the food only. I do find it odd that they won't pay for the time. Sorry.
- doesnotexist0
we always had dinners comp'd, but never lunch. depends on the place really, i know some places lunch is included. time & food.
- monospaced0
I always charged that time without a thought also because usually, as a contractor, my lunches lasted about 15 minutes. I'd grab something fast, bring it back, and eat while I was working. If you're taking an hour lunch break, that's a completely different story. I wouldn't want to pay some dude if he disappeared for an hour each day and still got paid for it.
- < I think you are right. I doubt anyone takes issue with a small break. Lunch break smacks of an hour to me.babaganush
- set0
I charge for the time I'm in there office. Paying for your lunch hour as a freelancer is something that should or could be offered by the studio as a gesture, not assumed as a given - imo.
- bulletfactory0
Of the other 3+ companies I've previously worked full-time for I never experienced this, but my current company gives me $100/month for food on the firm's seamless account (I was grandfathered in w/ the pre-acquisition perks), and the office buys pizza for everyone, every friday.
That said, this is only the case for the NYC office, none of our other offices have these perks.
- of course, freelance or contract work would be a different story. I wouldn't expect to be paid for lunch unless I worked through it.bulletfactory
- robotron3k0
pretty normal. you're a vendor.
- fadein110
Work through lunch - problem solved. Make your sandwiches the night before, add a bag of crisps if they don't mind the crunching. You will really notice the benefit to your pocket. Dairylee lunchables are a handy desk based snack if you start to feel weak at any point.
- utopian0
Just add hours to your commute time, this is completely acceptable.
- vaxorcist0
Hah! This is often an "initial conversation negotiation issue" .... and I once heard a good lesson in negotiation over the phone, when I overheard a hapless account exec at an agency talking to a headhunter for a hotshot programmer guy I was about to work with....
Agency Acct Exec:What's his rate per hour?
Freelancer's Headhunter: $155 per hour, but the most important thing is that he gets a $35 per day lunch allowance, and not just 1 hour, but 1.5 hours for lunch, he's happy to stay late, but this midday break is important for him.
Agency Acct Exec:what?!? $35 per lunch?!? what?!? an hour and a half, the rest of us get 1 hour, nobody gets $35 for lunch...
Freelancer's Headhunter: Well, we can talk about this for a long time, but it's important to him, he'll take an hour and a quarter minimum for lunch...
Agency Acct Exec: but... $35 for lunch?!?
... and so it goes, TOTALLY IGNORING the $155 per hour,they argued over the $35 hour-and-a-half lunch for a good 20-30 minutes till they settled on $25 lunch and 1.25 hour lunch, and left the $155 per hour alone... wow!
and of course, he was treated like a rock star.... he was good, but that good?!? ..
- they can easily go with someone who doesn't ask that much, and he knows it ;)monospaced
- yes... it was 1999... the programmer was in the catbird seat.... very true, they needed him...vaxorcist
- still, that's a crazy negotiation to overhear!monospaced
- CALLES0
bring yer own toilet paper. lesson of the story.
you never know
- fyoucher10
Reasons why I work per project as a vendor (a business who can also hire folks if needed, different from a "freelancer" who can't hire other folks) and not hourly or per day.
However, if I was working hourly AT a clients office, I'd be billing for ANY time required to do their work at THEIR office. Perhaps not billing them for your lunch break, but certainly billing them for commuting back and forth to THEIR office. If you have to take a call at home, bill them for that time too. And remember, it's hourly NOT per minute. So if a call takes 1 minute, you bill them for the hour. If you worked for 7.5 hours, bill for 8 hours, etc etc.