All states should require breaks for everyone working over 8+ hours.

Description

General Elements of the Argument Key Points: Supporting Evidence:

Thesis All states should require mandatory breaks for employees and employers that work over 8 hours. *Only 20 states require any meal breaks.

*Only nine states require any rest breaks.

I. Introduction Managers and employees in all states should be given mandatory breaks for long shifts. Some states have rest breaks or lunch breaks but the employer doesn’t allow you one if they don’t want to. Taking a break to rejuvenate is good for the body which helps with productivity, focus and movement.

B.Chignell(August 27th, 2019)(Five Benefits of Taking Regular Breaks at Work) https://www.ciphr.com/advice/taking-breaks/ https://www.workingamerica.org/fixmyjob/workingconditions/no-breaks

Who is your target audience? Congress, Business Owners, employees.

How will you introduce the problem to them? By showing how breaks will benefit the workers and business.

II. Problem-Overview Key ideas to illustrate the problem Health, Working Long Hours, Refusal from an employer. Examples

*The federal wage and hour law called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), doesn’t require employers to provide meal or rest breaks. L.Guerin, J.D.( An employee’s right to take meal and rest breaks depends on state law.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/meal-rest-breaks-rights-employee-29773.html How does the issue affect different community stakeholders? “Without taking adequate breaks from work, employee productivity, mental well-being, and overall work performance begin to suffer.

Overworked employees often deal with chronic stress that can easily lead to job burnout. While this not only negatively affects employee health and well-being, it negatively affects the bottom line, too.”(Kohll, para 2) A.Kholl(May,2018)(New Study Shows Correlation Between Employee Engagement And The Long-Lost Lunch Break) https://www.forbes.com/sites/alankohll/2018/05/29/new-study-shows-correlation-between-employee-engagement-and-the-long-lost-lunch-break/#488944024efc

III. Solution Proposal Who can implement the solution? Law Makers and the state labor department. How will the change affect the community?

Employee’s productivity will increase, also a mental state. What evidence supports that this is the best solution? IN a survey by Tork US v.s. Canada Take Back Lunch Breaks employees were less productive after not taking breaks. https://cdntorkprod.blob.core.windows.net/docs-c5/763/185763/original/tork-takes-back-survey.pdf

IV. Counter arguments Audiences that may have reservations or negative results from the proposed solution: Employers and employees that think pay will be lowered. Concerns to address: Mental Health and physical health. Rebuttal to those concerns: N/A

V. Conclusion Taking breaks during long shifts will benefit the mind, body, and business. What key points do you want to reinforce as you wrap up the argument? Breaks are not to take away money, there used to refresh so that your focus is stronger.

Final considerations for the audience: Look up your state laws on breaks in the workplace.