Idaho Law Blog
As an employment law attorney, my clients often ask questions related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Most recently, I seem to be getting many questions about whether breaks are required to be given to employees. The purpose of this blog is to provide a short summary of what the law requires with regards to providing breaks to employees.
Currently, federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks to be given to employees. Like most other benefits provided by employers, there is no specific requirement that they be given. Many employers offer these type of breaks to their employees though as a benefit and as a way of enticing their employees to remain employed with the employer. Imagine a prospective employee evaluating two different job opportunities and seeing that one job does not offer any type of breaks including a lunch break during the work day. Under this circumstance it is fairly easy to see which job it is likely the employee would take. Employers know that in order to entice prospective employees and to keep current employees happy, these types of benefits must be provided.
It is important to keep in mind that when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers these breaks to be compensable work hours that must be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek. This means that short breaks must also be considered in determining whether the employee is entitled to receive overtime pay for the hours worked.
Under federal law, “unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer’s rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.” In other words, if an employee during his 15 minute break decides to go run an errand and is actually gone for 30 minutes, the employer is only required to compensate be employee for the actual 15 minute break. The remaining 15 minutes of unauthorized break do not have to be compensated.
Bona fide meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
If you are an employee or an employer and have questions about breaks during the workday or workweek, we can help. Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Employment Law attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Employment Law questions and will help you solve your Idaho Employment Law problems.
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