Meal and rest break laws
Federal law does not require a lunch break at all — it only decides whether the break you get has to be paid. The requirements come from your state.
Federal law does not require a lunch break at all — it only decides whether the break you get has to be paid. The requirements come from your state.
General information, not legal advice. Break rules vary by state, industry, shift length and age, and they change. Confirm the current requirement with your state labour agency before relying on it.
This surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly: the FLSA does not require employers to provide meal or rest breaks to adult employees. No lunch break, no coffee break, nothing. A shift can lawfully run start to finish without a pause as far as federal wage law is concerned.
What federal law does regulate is whether a break you are given has to be paid:
That second point is where most break disputes actually live. The question is rarely "was a break given" but "was the employee genuinely free of duty during it."
Around twenty states mandate meal breaks, and a smaller group mandates paid rest breaks. The table covers the states with the most substantial requirements. Many others have rules limited to minors, or to particular industries.
| State | Meal break | Rest breaks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 30 min unpaid before the end of the 5th hour; a second after 10 hours | 10 min paid per 4 hours worked | A premium of one hour's pay is owed for each day a required break is missed. |
| Colorado | 30 min unpaid for shifts of 5+ consecutive hours | 10 min paid per 4 hours worked | Meal break should fall between the end of the 3rd and start of the 6th hour. |
| Connecticut | 30 min after the first 2 hours and before the last 2, for shifts of 7.5+ hours | — | |
| Delaware | 30 min for shifts of 7.5+ hours | — | Must fall after the first 2 hours and before the last 2. |
| Illinois | 20 min for shifts of 7.5+ hours, within the first 5 hours | — | Additional breaks for very long shifts under the One Day Rest in Seven Act. |
| Kentucky | Reasonable meal period, normally between the 3rd and 5th hour | 10 min paid per 4 hours worked | |
| Nevada | 30 min for shifts of 8+ continuous hours | 10 min paid per 4 hours worked | |
| New York | 30 min for factory work; 30 min midday for most others on shifts over 6 hours | — | Rules vary by industry and shift timing. |
| Oregon | 30 min unpaid for shifts over 6 hours | 10 min paid per 4-hour segment | |
| Washington | 30 min after no more than 5 hours | 10 min paid per 4 hours | Rest breaks must be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint. |
California, Oregon and Washington are generally regarded as the strictest. California is also unusual in attaching a direct financial remedy: an employer that fails to provide a required meal or rest period owes an additional hour of pay at the regular rate for each day it happened — a "premium" that is itself treated as wages.
Many payroll systems subtract 30 minutes from every shift automatically, whether or not a break was taken. This is legal in principle and a persistent source of unpaid wages in practice, because it assumes something that often is not true.
If your employer auto-deducts a lunch, the burden does not fall on you to prove you worked through it — but having your own record makes the conversation short. Log your actual times in the timesheet calculator with the break field set to zero on the days you worked through, and you have a dated, exportable record.
No. The FLSA does not require meal or rest breaks for adult employees. It only governs whether a break that is given must be paid — short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid; bona fide meal periods of 30 minutes or more can be unpaid if you are fully relieved of duty.
Yes. A meal period is only unpaid if you are completely relieved of duty. Working through it — answering calls, covering a desk, staying on the line — makes the time compensable.
Automatic deductions are permitted, but the employer remains responsible for paying for time actually worked. If you regularly work through an auto-deducted break, keep your own record of the days it happened.
Yes. Breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes are treated as hours worked under federal law and count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold.
California requires a premium of one additional hour of pay at the regular rate for each workday a required meal period was not provided, and a separate hour for rest periods.
Around twenty do, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington. Requirements differ in length, timing and which shifts trigger them.
A full week with breaks, overtime, saving and export.
One day, clocked in and out up to three times.
A correct sheet, step by step, with the common mistakes.
Federal rules plus the states that add daily or lower thresholds.
When rounding punches is lawful and when it is not.