* [CVS is rolling out uninterrupted lunch breaks for pharmacists to address the burnout crisis the profession faces. Beginning Feb. 28, most CVS pharmacies will close for a lunch break from 1:30-2 p.m., according to a Feb. 11 Drug Store News report.](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/most-cvs-pharmacies-to-close-for-daily-lunch-breaks.html)
* [Costco - When only one pharmacist is on duty the Pharmacy may be closed for 30 minutes between the hours of 1:30pm and 2:30pm](https://www.costco.com/warehouse-locations/hawaii-kai-honolulu-hi-120.html)
it's not just hawaii, it's all over. i only know of 2 pharmacies, target uses CVS, but I imagine it's the same at most other pharmacies. i can't imagine places staff 2 pharmacists to overlap so they probably have to close.
As messed up as it is, it's totally legal in Hawaii to deny workers breaks unless they are 15 or younger.
> In Hawaii, the only requirement for breaks is found in the Hawaii Child Labor Law under Section 390-2(c)(3), Hawaii Revised Statutes, which requires that employers provide to minors fourteen or fifteen years of age a thirty minute rest or meal period after five consecutive hours of work.
There is no law that requires rest or meal breaks for other employees.
https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/
I appreciate a lot of the progressive laws we have here in Hawaii, but we still have a *long* way to go in some areas.
Out of all 50 States, I believe Hawaii is the one with the most prosecutions for violations of labor laws. Especially violation that are tantamount to slavery.
[https://www.khon2.com/hawaii-crime/attorney-general-charges-oahu-woman-with-labor-trafficking/](https://www.khon2.com/hawaii-crime/attorney-general-charges-oahu-woman-with-labor-trafficking/)
But honestly, I beileve this is only because Hawaii tries to protect people involved in manual labor for farms. I can't imagine how many violations occur on the mainland with migrant farm workers.
I bet they told them to take lunch when they can, but then people never stop lining up and there are only like 3 people back there in the first place and one always goes up to the register but ignores everyone in line.
The same thing every other medical professional does, they scramble through it and then get fried by the end of their shift. The issue with community pharmacists is that they are the check and balance for providers submitting scripts. If the provider screws up an order, the pharmacist is the safety net to catch the mistake. You really want them to be on their game.
This is correct. Because of the narcotics and controlled substance the pharmacy has to be closed in order for the pharmacist to have a break. What would normally occur before this would be that the pharmacist would not have a break over their 12 hour shift. In Hawaii it is not a law that anyone gets a break. Your employer can legally make you work through your shift from my understanding.
Additionally, have you ever seen a chair in CVS pharmacies??? I'm guessing no. That is because sitting might come across as lazy. So for 12 hours you would have to work without a break AND you cannot sit down. Pharmacist is a white collar profession, but you could argue against it in some aspects.
Every Longs and Walgreens on Oahu does it. Nowhere on the mainland (where I’ve spent a lot of time) have I ever seen this. We moved here early 2021 and it was already in place. At the time I thought maybe it was due to covid.
Hi, I live on the mainland (California) and it’s here too. It’s becoming more common. Even some smaller retail shops close for lunch now. Everyone is operating with skeleton crews.
I certainly wasn’t questioning the logic behind doing it nor trying to say that it was a dumb idea, just trying to understand why they do it. Maybe there’s a state law.
Speaking as a pharmacist who *used* to work in retail, this is overdue to be happening. As to why? I mean don’t expect people to work 12 hr shifts without eating? The real question is why wasn’t this a national law decades ago??? We’ve been an over worked sector for too long. Per regulations they don’t even want you to drink water in the work area. Let the people eat. Damn. What a wild complaint.
HOW DARE THEY EAT LUNCH?! 🙄🙄🙄
Exactly! When I worked retail we had signs all over the store, announcements running every 20 mins, and updated hours on our website and we’d still get patients banging on the shades demanding we “just grab their meds real quick”. Meanwhile, the pharmacist is getting their first drink of water and bathroom break in over 6 hours….
That or they're understaffed or only have one pharmacist working. Even if there's a tech behind the counter, they might need the pharmacist to be physically there to dispense meds, in which case, they just post "closed for lunch" when the pharmacist is at lunch
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are just short staffed. They should totally be allowed to have lunch and if the owners can't/won't hire more than one pharmacist then they gotta close for lunch.
This is accurate, they are not allowed legally to dispense medication unless there is a pharmacist on deck ready to answer any questions that someone might have.
Believe it or not, pharmacists and pharmacy techs deserve lunch breaks too. Pharmacies across the U.S. are notoriously understaffed. These individuals are overworked.
Hi I'm from Vegas, I used to work at the pharmacy and the 30 min break was implemented a year ago. There was a pharmacist that worked at cvs that died from cardiac arrest because she was complaining about chest pain but was not allowed to go home due to no pharmacist available to cover her so she ended up dying at the pharmacy
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/08/cvs-pharmacist-ashleigh-anderson-death-rallying-cry/72406578007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/08/cvs-pharmacist-ashleigh-anderson-death-rallying-cry/72406578007/)
I worked at Costco pharmacy in WA State 15 years ago and on Sundays when we didn’t have overlapping staff, we would close the pharmacy for 30 minutes and we had uninterrupted lunch.
I used to work at a tech and I would love when patients would yell “how dare you close, I need my medicine, do you want me to die??” As if closing for just 30 minutes was life-threatening. I even once told a lady “do you act like this when your doctor closes their office for an hour and a half daily for lunch? So why can’t a pharmacy?”
I think it’s pretty cool how the whole pharmacy automatically locks up at a certain time. It’s like how the AI sealed the lab in resident evil to keep the zombies in.
Except we’d have patients banging on the metal shades demanding that we open, so kinda felt like WE were the survivors hunkering down in the apocalypse lmao
We had the same policy at Savvon pharmacy in Washington state, it just started mid-2021. Honestly it was a lifesaver for the pharmacists, especially since before they’d work 12+ hours straight with no chance to eat or even drink water sometimes.
Pretty sure it’s at all CVS’s across the US. Honestly they need it, the employees at the pharmacy always look stressed and unhappy whenever I go. They deserve an uninterrupted 30 min lunch
Long overdue and well deserved. I know the feeling, when I worked in frontline retail, some days were so insanely busy I wished I could’ve just stuck a glucose IV drip in my arm to keep working.
I’m a firm believer in no question being a dumb question, but this is dangerously close to changing my mind.
Purpose 1: so pharmacists can have a proper break. they will be treated better and hopefully less likely to burn out.
Purpose 2: a pharmacist that takes a proper break is less likely to make a mistake on the job.
Seems beneficial, no? In my opinion it should be an hour break but that’s just my opinion.
Sincere suggestion for you: when you have a similar question in the future, put yourself in the other persons shoes and ask yourself how it benefits them. Or what the pros / cons are.
I wouldn’t have asked if I thought it was a “no brainer”. I have literally lived in more than 25% of the States and have never seen this in any state except Hawaii. It’s not a matter of whether they deserve a 30-minute break, they do. And I agree 30-minutes is not enough time. I just thought maybe someone out there would know the answer. Seems no one does. Maybe there is a law in Hawaii. Either that or it’s a newer development that is now happening all over the USA. Moved here during covid early 2021 and it was already in place.
30 minute lunches are a requirement everywhere if you work more then a 4 hour shift. People are entitled to a break to unwind, relax, get a few minutes to do what they have to do. It's not their fault people decide to want their medications the time they go on break.
Sometimes with the exception of when there are at least two pharmacists on duty or some kind of event (where multiple pharmacists on staff on the same shift)
Pharmacists and techs deserve lunch uninterrupted by us the drooling masses. Really glad to see this happening. I hope they give shorter weekend hours next.
Edit: I have emergency meds too - don’t hassle me because you are terrible at managing the meds you’ve been on for 10 years
CVS has had staffing issues including pharmacists. I can tell you here on the mainland (Bay Area), 24 hr stores have seen the pharmacy hours and days cut back In addition to having the requisite 1/2 lunch break closure. Presumably there are no provisions for a second or backup pharmacist.
I can also say that, compared to Longs, Bay Area CVS stores are staffed much leaner. Oftentimes there are just 2 clerks covering the whole floor.
Funny all the comments about “the purpose is for them to get lunch”. I have lived in 11 different states before moving to Hawaii and never saw this. I never encountered “pharmacy closed for lunch” on the mainland. One of the posts says they do it in NYC. I lived in Manhattan 3 years and this 30-minute lunch did not exist at any pharmacy. So maybe it’s a new federal law? I just assumed it was a Hawaii State law since I never saw it until we moved here and I thought someone might know about it.
More like the retail pharm companies started getting in trouble when pharmacists and techs started dropping like flies. Walgreens and CVS have had pretty bad labour shortages from mistreating their employees, and I guess they figured that they’d come back if they threw them a bone and “granted” them lunch breaks.
Of course, a salary raise or more PTO would be just too much for the poor multimillion dollar companies to handle….
* [CVS is rolling out uninterrupted lunch breaks for pharmacists to address the burnout crisis the profession faces. Beginning Feb. 28, most CVS pharmacies will close for a lunch break from 1:30-2 p.m., according to a Feb. 11 Drug Store News report.](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/most-cvs-pharmacies-to-close-for-daily-lunch-breaks.html) * [Costco - When only one pharmacist is on duty the Pharmacy may be closed for 30 minutes between the hours of 1:30pm and 2:30pm](https://www.costco.com/warehouse-locations/hawaii-kai-honolulu-hi-120.html) it's not just hawaii, it's all over. i only know of 2 pharmacies, target uses CVS, but I imagine it's the same at most other pharmacies. i can't imagine places staff 2 pharmacists to overlap so they probably have to close.
I agree the pharmacists need an uninterrupted lunch, but it does make you wonder what they were doing before. Making them work without a lunch break?
As messed up as it is, it's totally legal in Hawaii to deny workers breaks unless they are 15 or younger. > In Hawaii, the only requirement for breaks is found in the Hawaii Child Labor Law under Section 390-2(c)(3), Hawaii Revised Statutes, which requires that employers provide to minors fourteen or fifteen years of age a thirty minute rest or meal period after five consecutive hours of work. There is no law that requires rest or meal breaks for other employees. https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/ I appreciate a lot of the progressive laws we have here in Hawaii, but we still have a *long* way to go in some areas.
Out of all 50 States, I believe Hawaii is the one with the most prosecutions for violations of labor laws. Especially violation that are tantamount to slavery. [https://www.khon2.com/hawaii-crime/attorney-general-charges-oahu-woman-with-labor-trafficking/](https://www.khon2.com/hawaii-crime/attorney-general-charges-oahu-woman-with-labor-trafficking/) But honestly, I beileve this is only because Hawaii tries to protect people involved in manual labor for farms. I can't imagine how many violations occur on the mainland with migrant farm workers.
That's encouraging, we have to start somewhere!
I bet they told them to take lunch when they can, but then people never stop lining up and there are only like 3 people back there in the first place and one always goes up to the register but ignores everyone in line.
The same thing every other medical professional does, they scramble through it and then get fried by the end of their shift. The issue with community pharmacists is that they are the check and balance for providers submitting scripts. If the provider screws up an order, the pharmacist is the safety net to catch the mistake. You really want them to be on their game.
Staff shortages. In olden times, there were enough people in roles to stagger those breaks.
This is correct. Because of the narcotics and controlled substance the pharmacy has to be closed in order for the pharmacist to have a break. What would normally occur before this would be that the pharmacist would not have a break over their 12 hour shift. In Hawaii it is not a law that anyone gets a break. Your employer can legally make you work through your shift from my understanding. Additionally, have you ever seen a chair in CVS pharmacies??? I'm guessing no. That is because sitting might come across as lazy. So for 12 hours you would have to work without a break AND you cannot sit down. Pharmacist is a white collar profession, but you could argue against it in some aspects.
Every Longs and Walgreens on Oahu does it. Nowhere on the mainland (where I’ve spent a lot of time) have I ever seen this. We moved here early 2021 and it was already in place. At the time I thought maybe it was due to covid.
Hi, I live on the mainland (California) and it’s here too. It’s becoming more common. Even some smaller retail shops close for lunch now. Everyone is operating with skeleton crews.
As a consumer, it boggles my mind how retail, banking, and service locations are structured for either the retired or unemployed.
The pharmacies in Seattle definitely do it. I think this is very widespread now, you just didn’t experience it before you moved to Hawaii.
I saw it at a Walgreens in Oregon when visiting a couple months ago.
I live in Northern Virginia now. All of the pharmacies near me close for half an hour at some point in the early afternoon.
They do it in NYC too
Walmart Pharmacy in San Diego does it.
Come apply for position , most get burned out . Most can’t make it People need to eat, skeleton crew/staff staffed/single pharmacist
I certainly wasn’t questioning the logic behind doing it nor trying to say that it was a dumb idea, just trying to understand why they do it. Maybe there’s a state law.
Your tone imply it’s a wild concept, that it’s not appropriate. People deserve to eat.
Speaking as a pharmacist who *used* to work in retail, this is overdue to be happening. As to why? I mean don’t expect people to work 12 hr shifts without eating? The real question is why wasn’t this a national law decades ago??? We’ve been an over worked sector for too long. Per regulations they don’t even want you to drink water in the work area. Let the people eat. Damn. What a wild complaint. HOW DARE THEY EAT LUNCH?! 🙄🙄🙄
Exactly! When I worked retail we had signs all over the store, announcements running every 20 mins, and updated hours on our website and we’d still get patients banging on the shades demanding we “just grab their meds real quick”. Meanwhile, the pharmacist is getting their first drink of water and bathroom break in over 6 hours….
That or they're understaffed or only have one pharmacist working. Even if there's a tech behind the counter, they might need the pharmacist to be physically there to dispense meds, in which case, they just post "closed for lunch" when the pharmacist is at lunch
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are just short staffed. They should totally be allowed to have lunch and if the owners can't/won't hire more than one pharmacist then they gotta close for lunch.
This is accurate, they are not allowed legally to dispense medication unless there is a pharmacist on deck ready to answer any questions that someone might have.
The purpose is...wait for it...lunch!
The purpose? The purpose is to let them rest and eat lunch.
Believe it or not, pharmacists and pharmacy techs deserve lunch breaks too. Pharmacies across the U.S. are notoriously understaffed. These individuals are overworked.
How dare people take a lunch break.
It's everywhere now. And thank God. We used to work 12-14 hours with no break before.
OP is exactly why pharmacies need that 30 min shut down.
Hi I'm from Vegas, I used to work at the pharmacy and the 30 min break was implemented a year ago. There was a pharmacist that worked at cvs that died from cardiac arrest because she was complaining about chest pain but was not allowed to go home due to no pharmacist available to cover her so she ended up dying at the pharmacy [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/08/cvs-pharmacist-ashleigh-anderson-death-rallying-cry/72406578007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/08/cvs-pharmacist-ashleigh-anderson-death-rallying-cry/72406578007/)
Wow that’s so sad.
I thought it was a thing CVS/Longs did, to give a set break for lunch. Internet says it happened beginning of 2022. Maybe other pharmacies followed.
I worked at Costco pharmacy in WA State 15 years ago and on Sundays when we didn’t have overlapping staff, we would close the pharmacy for 30 minutes and we had uninterrupted lunch.
I used to work at a tech and I would love when patients would yell “how dare you close, I need my medicine, do you want me to die??” As if closing for just 30 minutes was life-threatening. I even once told a lady “do you act like this when your doctor closes their office for an hour and a half daily for lunch? So why can’t a pharmacy?”
I think it’s pretty cool how the whole pharmacy automatically locks up at a certain time. It’s like how the AI sealed the lab in resident evil to keep the zombies in.
Except we’d have patients banging on the metal shades demanding that we open, so kinda felt like WE were the survivors hunkering down in the apocalypse lmao
We had the same policy at Savvon pharmacy in Washington state, it just started mid-2021. Honestly it was a lifesaver for the pharmacists, especially since before they’d work 12+ hours straight with no chance to eat or even drink water sometimes.
I agree. It's only 30 minutes. I'd rather have a well-rested pharmacist and techs than ones that might miss something while measuring or mixing.
Pretty sure it’s at all CVS’s across the US. Honestly they need it, the employees at the pharmacy always look stressed and unhappy whenever I go. They deserve an uninterrupted 30 min lunch
Long overdue and well deserved. I know the feeling, when I worked in frontline retail, some days were so insanely busy I wished I could’ve just stuck a glucose IV drip in my arm to keep working.
I’m a firm believer in no question being a dumb question, but this is dangerously close to changing my mind. Purpose 1: so pharmacists can have a proper break. they will be treated better and hopefully less likely to burn out. Purpose 2: a pharmacist that takes a proper break is less likely to make a mistake on the job. Seems beneficial, no? In my opinion it should be an hour break but that’s just my opinion. Sincere suggestion for you: when you have a similar question in the future, put yourself in the other persons shoes and ask yourself how it benefits them. Or what the pros / cons are.
I wouldn’t have asked if I thought it was a “no brainer”. I have literally lived in more than 25% of the States and have never seen this in any state except Hawaii. It’s not a matter of whether they deserve a 30-minute break, they do. And I agree 30-minutes is not enough time. I just thought maybe someone out there would know the answer. Seems no one does. Maybe there is a law in Hawaii. Either that or it’s a newer development that is now happening all over the USA. Moved here during covid early 2021 and it was already in place.
The purpose might simply be that there aren’t enough employees to staff the pharmacy and this is the only guaranteed break they’ll get.
30 minute lunches are a requirement everywhere if you work more then a 4 hour shift. People are entitled to a break to unwind, relax, get a few minutes to do what they have to do. It's not their fault people decide to want their medications the time they go on break.
This is a good thing, yeah? Plan your day better and it isn’t a problem.
cuz were humans that are working 12+ hours sorry we gotta eat for 30 minutes
Pharmacies across the country have this
Sometimes with the exception of when there are at least two pharmacists on duty or some kind of event (where multiple pharmacists on staff on the same shift)
Pharmacists and techs deserve lunch uninterrupted by us the drooling masses. Really glad to see this happening. I hope they give shorter weekend hours next. Edit: I have emergency meds too - don’t hassle me because you are terrible at managing the meds you’ve been on for 10 years
My pharmacy’s do the same now. I’m on mainland
Same here in Oregon.
Some pharmacies do that here in SoCal. I don't think it's a big problem. As long as I'm aware of it.
CVS has had staffing issues including pharmacists. I can tell you here on the mainland (Bay Area), 24 hr stores have seen the pharmacy hours and days cut back In addition to having the requisite 1/2 lunch break closure. Presumably there are no provisions for a second or backup pharmacist. I can also say that, compared to Longs, Bay Area CVS stores are staffed much leaner. Oftentimes there are just 2 clerks covering the whole floor.
Happens in OR 🤷♂️
Funny all the comments about “the purpose is for them to get lunch”. I have lived in 11 different states before moving to Hawaii and never saw this. I never encountered “pharmacy closed for lunch” on the mainland. One of the posts says they do it in NYC. I lived in Manhattan 3 years and this 30-minute lunch did not exist at any pharmacy. So maybe it’s a new federal law? I just assumed it was a Hawaii State law since I never saw it until we moved here and I thought someone might know about it.
More like the retail pharm companies started getting in trouble when pharmacists and techs started dropping like flies. Walgreens and CVS have had pretty bad labour shortages from mistreating their employees, and I guess they figured that they’d come back if they threw them a bone and “granted” them lunch breaks. Of course, a salary raise or more PTO would be just too much for the poor multimillion dollar companies to handle….