New Hampshire Labor Law Breaks
You are not entitled to paid breaks in New Hampshire. Although many workers have a meal and rest breaks throughout the day, these breaks are not always mandated by law. Employers are not required by federal law to give workers breaks for meals or rest periods during shifts. Employees only have a right to these breaks if their state mandates them. 30-minute meal break for workers who put in more than five straight hours.
New Hampshire Holiday Pay
The state of New Hampshire currently does not require that employers provide holiday pay or holiday vacation for their employees. The federal government also does not make this luxury a requirement. Federal law states that businesses and companies can be open three hundred sixty-five days a year without providing holidays.
This means that employees can thus be required to work every day of the year, including Sundays and holidays. Because there is a lack of state law or federal law in this area, many businesses and companies choose to provide their employees with holidays, anywhere from five to seven days a year.
By providing holidays, employers are still not required to pay employees for taking those holidays. Employers also do not have to pay employees a premium salary for working holidays. Holiday pay is an option for companies and businesses to provide but normal salary payment for these days is completely legal.
If an individual is provided with payment for taking a holiday and he or she works more than forty hours that week, an employer is not required to pay him or her overtime because of the holiday payment. In reality, vacation time is not counted as time worked. Employers also have the liberty of providing payment agreements for holidays and overtime and are also required to honor union-based contracts whenever necessary.
Family Leave
New Hampshire does not have a state law in regard to family leave or maternity leave. Instead, this state uses the federal law created in 1993 called the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act provides employees the opportunity to take any necessary leave of absence for no more than twelve weeks.
Each year every employee is provided this twelve weeks of time off without payment with the guarantee that he or she will have job safety. An employer is not legally permitted to terminate an employee simply because he or she needed to take a leave for medical or family reasons. Upon returning an employee is guaranteed his or her former occupation or one of equal benefit and payment. The Family and Medical Leave Act is set in place to allow children to care for elderly parents, to allow parents to care for ill children, to allow for hospitalization, or to allow any necessary leave for psychological or medical needs.
Maternity leave is covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act and is designed to allow new mothers the opportunity to care for their newborns as well as allow adoptive parents to bond with the newly adopted children.
Sick Leave
Federal law and New Hampshire law do not require that businesses and companies provide employees with sick leave. Sick leave may be offered at an employer’s discretion but are also not required to provide payment for taking sick leave. Many companies provide benefit packages that allow individuals to be paid for sick days. Since sick leave is often used for mental health days, many employers have chosen to provide paid time off instead. This kind of time off covers sick leave and any other reason for needing a short leave.