Are meal and rest breaks paid?
Federally, short rest breaks (usually 20 minutes or less) are paid working time; bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more, fully relieved of duty) can be unpaid.
The FLSA does not require employers to give breaks at all, but when short breaks are given they count as hours worked. A meal period is unpaid only if the employee is completely relieved of duty; eating at the desk while answering phones is work time.
Many states, including California, require meal or rest breaks and set their own timing rules, so the unpaid break on a time card should match what was really taken.
Sources
Related terms
- Time clock roundingRecording clock-in and clock-out times to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour, allowed federally only if it averages out fairly over time.
- Split shiftA workday split into two parts with a long unpaid gap between them, such as a lunch service and a dinner service.
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