Jobs here are not required to give paid vacation days , paid sick days , or extra pay on the holidays . Especially lowtier jobs like retail or food service . Hell , there isn ' t even a federal law mandating we get breaks and lunches . Most companies have some kind of system , and about half the states have laws on the books , but yeah . In some places it ' s perfectly legal to make you work for 8 hours without eating or resting . They do have to let you use the bathroom , though , I ' m pretty sure that ' s a legal right . I used to hate vacations because it meant I had to work two weeks straight , then a vacation , then come back and work two more weeks straight to make sure I had enough money to pay the damn bills . Unpaid vacation is a bitch .