cutting full-time hours

... just heard today that one of my old shops (in arizona) moved all of its employees back to 37.5 hours ... guess that's better than getting laid off or closed down, but that hurts ... is this common? is 37.5 still considered full time?

it's tough out there, eh?

 

In some places, yes it is.

 

Hell, 30 hours is considered full time here.

 

i imagine the work load hasn't decreased by 2.5 hours per person, though ... sigh ... that was a great paper when I worked there several years ago -- well, it wasn't that great but we had a lot of fun and I learned a lot (usually the hard way) ...

 

It's a bullshit move, but it's legal in some places. Most companies schedule you for 8.5 hours a day (42.5 hours a week) and factor in your lunch break so that your paycheck comes out to 40 hours even.

This way, they schedule you for 8 hours a day and THEN factor in your lunch break, cutting your weekly paycheck to 37.5 hours. You're still full-time, you still get your mandatory break for working 8 hours, but the company doesn't have to pay you as much.

I know of at least a couple Western papers that have gone to that in recent years. Ain't the first time.

 

My company wants us to work 9 hours (1 hr unpaid lunch). For the life of me, I cannot spend an hour a day on lunch.

 

I used to be on a standard 37 1/2 at one of my stops.

 

I worked at a shop that did the same thing. It obviously equates to a paycut for workers.
Since most of us do 50 or more hours for 40 hours of pay any way, this is just a way to get reporters to donate more time to the company.

 

So you slowly munch a sandwich for 30 minutes, then you end up back at your desk doing work-related stuff for the other 30 minutes, and the company comes out ahead. Brilliant!

 

Came out this week that my shop's hourly workers' hours are being cut from 40 to 35. Needless to say, I'm a little peeved.

 

And that one-hour break works especially well on thenight desk, where if you get 15 minutes to nuke and eat a frozen dinner, you're lucky.

 

Somewhere, Bob Young is crying and he doesn't know why.