Federal Rules on Lunch and Rest Breaks at Work

Federal law does not require employers to give workers a lunch or coffee break. But if an employer does give a break, federal rules decide whether that time must be paid: short rest periods of about 5 to 20 minutes count as paid work time, while a genuine 30-minutes-or-more meal break during which the employee is fully off duty does not have to be paid.

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• “Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks.” (DOL)
• Short rest breaks of 5–20 minutes that are given “must be counted as hours worked” and paid. (29 CFR 785.18)
• Paid rest-break time cannot be offset against other compensable time, such as waiting or on-call time. (29 CFR 785.18)
• A bona fide meal period — ordinarily 30 minutes or more, with the employee completely relieved of duty — is not paid worktime. (29 CFR 785.19)
• An employee kept at a desk or machine while eating is still working, so that time must be paid. (29 CFR 785.19)

Federal break requirements

No. The U.S. Department of Labor states plainly: “Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks.” (DOL, Breaks and Meal Periods) Nothing in federal wage-hour law obligates an employer to schedule any break during the workday.

Paid short breaks

Yes. Under the Department of Labor’s regulations implementing the Fair Labor Standards Act: “Rest periods of short duration, running from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes, are common in industry. They promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time. They must be counted as hours worked.” (29 CFR 785.18) The same section adds a rule against double-counting: “Compensable time of rest periods may not be offset against other working time such as compensable waiting time or on-call time.” (29 CFR 785.18)

Unpaid meal periods

A meal break can be unpaid, but only if it meets specific conditions. The regulation states: “Bona fide meal periods are not worktime.” It further specifies the length: “Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period.” And it specifies what “bona fide” requires: “The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals.” (All: 29 CFR 785.19)

Work during meals

Then it is not a bona fide meal period, and it must be paid. The regulation gives concrete examples: “An office employee who is required to eat at his desk or a factory worker who is required to be at his machine is working while eating.” (29 CFR 785.19) Staying on the premises alone does not defeat the unpaid status, though: “It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period.” (29 CFR 785.19) The dividing line is whether all job duties stop, not whether the employee physically leaves the building.

What this article does not answer

This federal record does not say whether you are entitled to a break in the first place — that question is governed by state law, not by the federal rules described here, and this article does not state or imply any such entitlement under federal law. It also does not resolve whether a specific interrupted or shortened lunch break in your own situation was compensable; that depends on the facts of your case. And it does not name or summarize any individual state’s break-entitlement law, since that is a separate body of law from the federal rules covered above.

Source links

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-785