When do your employees get a
lunch break? Did you know the federal government doesn’t have a law requiring
business owners to give adult employees rest periods or meal breaks during the
workday? In fact, only l9 states specifically require rest or meal breaks for
adults. Interestingly, the Fair Labor Standards Act states that if employers
choose to provide employees with rest periods, they must be paid. And, if you
grant employees meal breaks, they too, must be paid, unless the breaks qualify
as bona fide meal periods.
So what constitutes a bona
fide meal period? Meal periods usually last at least 30 minutes or more and
qualify as an unpaid break. The U.S. Department of Labor deems a break to be a
bona fide meal period when it is a period of time set aside for a regular meal.
The break must also be long enough to be used for this purpose, and it must be
an uninterrupted period during which the employee is completely relieved from
his/her duties. During this period, the employee cannot be actively or
inactively working.
What about your office
employees? If they are required to be at their desks during lunch, it is
considered working while eating. The same is true if an employee is working in
one of your service bays. The Department of Labor doesn’t require the employee
be allowed to leave the premises during this time, provided he or she is
otherwise completely freed from all work-related issues.
What is a rest period? Rest
periods are considered work time, and therefore, the employee must be paid. The
typical length of such a period can be anywhere from five to 20 minutes and
consists of coffee breaks and time for snacks.
Rest periods may not be
offset against other working times, such as compensable waiting time or on-call
time. As their employers, you may require employees to take breaks to avoid
violating specific state or municipal laws. However, employers cannot force
employees to do certain things on break (i.e., drink coffee during a coffee
break, go to the bathroom during a bathroom break or eat during a meal break).
How long should a break be?
For the most part, employers are prohibited from scheduling a break of more
than one hour during the basic eight-hour workday. A lunch break may not be
extended for more than one hour by allowing an employee to take a paid rest
period prior to or immediately following the meal period.
Determining break policies
needs your attention. You must consider the following factors when creating or
modifying policies for meal periods:
• Any existing provisions in
a negotiated agreement;
• The availability,
convenience and distance of eating establishments;
• Whether employees must be
present at work to fulfill their work requirements;
• Whether work must be
performed on weekends, during overtime or at night.
Where does all of this leave
you, the tire dealership manager?
The Department of Labor
promotes rest periods as a benefit because they promote employee efficiency. In
addition, extended or unusually heavy workloads may cause physical, mental and
emotional stress. Rest periods, experts say, help guard against fatigue, stress
or lack of concentration, which potentially can lead to errors, injuries and
accidents.
Bottom line: When your state
laws differ from those of the Fair Labor Standards Act, you are required to
comply with the standards that provide employees with the greatest benefit. To
avoid violating specific state or municipal laws, employers may require
employees to take breaks. To find out if your state requires you to offer est
and/or meal periods, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Web site at
dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/meal.htm. To find out if your state requires
rest periods, visit dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/rest.htm.
- Source: Tire Review
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