Dallas construction workers now getting mandatory breaks

  • 2015-12-14
On December 8, a proposal passed by Dallas city council, in a vote of 10-5, means it is now a requirement that construction workers are given rest breaks.

Until the recent proposal was passed, employers in Texas were under no obligation to give their employees breaks. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal statute, breaks are viewed as an optional employee benefit. Now, at least in Dallas, constructions workers will receive a mandatory 10-minute break for every four hours of work.

Employers will be required to post signage detailing the new law. Advocacy groups will likely engage a printing company so they can supply laborers with either Flyers or Brochures explaining their rights in straightforward language.

Since 2014, the Workers Defense Project, which is an advocacy group that works for Texas laborers, has lobbied the Dallas city council to pass a rest break ordinance. Representing about 1,100 employers, the Dallas Builders Association, however, said an ordinance was unnecessary. The association’s executive officer Phil Crone said other solutions were already available, such as reporting employers to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The OSHA provides a toll-free hotline where employees can anonymously obtain compliance assistance, receive answers to their questions, and report unsafe working conditions or work-related injuries. According to OSHA, during Fiscal Year 2015, which ended September 30, there were four construction fatalities in Texas that were related to heat.
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