The Fair Labor Standards Act requires no meal or rest breaks at all. What it does say is that short breaks, customarily 20 minutes or less, are working time and must be paid, while a bona fide meal period of typically 30 minutes or more is unpaid only if you are completely relieved of duty. Many states do require breaks, and where they do the state rule governs.
The 20-minute line
Breaks of roughly 20 minutes or less are treated as compensable working time. They promote efficiency, they are customary, and they are paid — an employer cannot deduct a ten-minute coffee break.
A bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or longer, is not working time provided you are completely relieved from duty. That condition does a lot of work.
Completely relieved means completely
Eating at your desk while answering the phone is not a bona fide meal period. Being required to stay on the premises does not automatically make it paid, but being required to remain available does. A receptionist covering the desk over lunch is working, whatever the timesheet deducts.
The automatic 30-minute deduction is the most common failure here: a system that removes half an hour whether or not the break was actually taken generates a wage claim every time it was not.
Interruptions
An interrupted meal break generally becomes compensable. Some employers require the break to be restarted; some pay for the whole period. Doing neither is the problem.
State law is where the requirements live
Many states mandate meal periods after a certain number of hours and paid rest periods within each work period. California requires a 30-minute meal period after five hours and a paid ten-minute rest period per four hours worked, with a penalty payment for each day one is missed — which makes it enforceable in a way federal law is not.
Nursing mothers
Federal law does require reasonable break time and a private space that is not a bathroom for expressing milk, and that entitlement was extended to more workers by legislation in 2022.
What to check
Whether your timesheet deducts a break automatically, and whether your state mandates breaks at all. Those two questions cover almost every dispute in this area.
Common questions
Does federal law require breaks?
No. It requires no meal or rest breaks at all; it only governs how the breaks you do get are treated.
Which breaks have to be paid?
Short ones, customarily 20 minutes or less, count as working time and must be paid.
When is a meal break unpaid?
When it is a bona fide meal period, typically 30 minutes or more, and you are completely relieved of duty throughout.
Is an automatic deduction lawful?
Only if the break was actually taken and duty-free. A system deducting half an hour regardless generates a claim each time it was not.
Do states require breaks?
Many do. California requires a 30-minute meal after five hours and a paid ten-minute rest per four hours, with a penalty for each missed.