The lawyer reported violations when interrupting an employee's lunch.

The employer's requirement to interrupt the lunch break is not grounds for dismissal of an employee and may violate labor laws. Sofya Lukinova, head of the Legal department of VMT Consult, told Izvestia about this on April 17.

"Dismissal is applied only in cases of gross or systematic violations of labor discipline and requires proven guilt of the employee," the expert explained.

According to her, an employee has the right not to go to work during the established lunch break, if it is stipulated in the employment contract. The exception is enterprises with a continuous production cycle, where the nutrition regime is organized directly at the workplace.

Lukinova stressed that the requirement to continue working at lunch could be considered a violation of labor law. In such cases, the employee has the right to refuse to comply with the instruction, referring to his legal rights.

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The expert noted that with regular violations, an employee can record the facts of pressure — for example, save correspondence or record a conversation — and contact the employer with a written statement. If the situation is not resolved, it is possible to contact the labor inspectorate, including through online services.

In case of further conflict, the employee has the right to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office or go to court, including in case of an attempt to unlawfully dismiss.

"An employer faces administrative liability for violating labor protection requirements. For organizations, the fine can range from 50 thousand to 80 thousand rubles, for officials — from 2 thousand to 5 thousand rubles," the lawyer summed up.

On April 2, Ilya Vasilchuk, a judicial lawyer, an expert on the security of electronic transactions and real estate transactions, and a public figure, said that stealing food from a shared refrigerator at work could entail administrative or criminal liability, depending on the value of the stolen goods. According to him, such actions qualify as embezzlement — the unlawful seizure of someone else's property causing damage to the owner.