Kentucky GOP bill would strip workers of their right to lunch breaks

A new bill advancing through the Kentucky state legislature would strip workers of many protections, including their right to have a lunch break.

Louisville Public Media reports the new bill sponsored by GOP State Rep. Phillip Pratt would not only take away the right to lunch breaks, but also would relieve employers of their obligations to pay employees for travel time or to pay seventh day overtime.

LPM notes that Rep. Pratt, who is retiring from the legislature, has a potential personal interest in getting the bill passed, as the landscaping company he owns could then make employees continue to work without eating.

During a committee hearing this week discussing the bills, Pratt portrayed himself as an embattled entrepreneur struggling under the thumb of an oppressive government.

“I've often said, despite the best efforts of local, state and federal government, I've managed to succeed and keep my doors open,” Pratt said.

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Pratt also downplayed concerns that workers would be denied lunchbreaks just because the government no longer required employers to give them.

“In today's work environment, to say someone's not going to offer you a lunch break is ludicrous,” Pratt said. “Trust me, you're going to offer lunch breaks, you're going to offer breaks, you're gonna do all that.”

Gerald Adkins, a lobbyist with the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, questioned why Pratt was in such a rush to tear down workers' rights in the state.

"These laws have been in place since 1958, 1974 and 1942, respectively," he told LPM. "Why the sudden urgency to repeal laws that are in place to protect Kentucky's workers?"

According to LPM, Pratt has also sponsored a bill this year aimed at letting teenagers work longer hours later into school nights, which labor advocates have also decried for lower child labor standards.