For more information, please visit our overtime pay and minimum wage pages. When they do so for non-exempt employees, those companies are violating state and federal wage and hour laws.įor further information, you might be interested in reading our article, Employer Cannot Offset Unpaid Work with Voluntary Pay During Meals, from our New Jersey Employment Law Blog.Įmployees who have issues with their meal breaks at work may also have wage and hour claims. Nonetheless, many companies automatically deduct a full meal break from all of their employees, whether or not they actually took a break. However, since employers are required to pay non-exempt employees for all of their hours worked, if an employee works through their meal or rest break at work, then they are entitled to be paid for this time. Since employers are not legally required to pay employees during lunch breaks, companies that voluntarily agree to pay for this time are not obligated to pay time-and-a-half overtime premiums for this non-working time. In contrast to rest breaks, meal breaks typically are at least 30 minutes long. In contrast, employers are not required to pay employees during their lunch or meal breaks. Generally, these short breaks are between 5 and 20 minutes long.įor additional information, please read our article: Hourly Employees Must be Paid for Short Breaks. However, employers are not necessarily required to pay their employees during the legally-required meal breaks.Įmployers must pay non-exempt employees, meaning workers who are legally entitled to receive overtime pay and minimum wage, during any authorized short breaks during the work day. These are minimums, meaning an employer's policy or an individual employment agreement can provide more generous breaks. Employees who work more than 6 hours starting between 1 pm and 6 am are entitled to at least a 45-minute meal break during the middle of their workday, for a minimum of at least an hour-and-a-half per day.Employees who begin working before 11:00 am and continue working until at least 7 pm are entitled to an additional 20-minute meal break between 5 and 7 pm, for a minimum of at least 50 minutes per day.Most other employees who work at least 6 hours per day are entitled to at least a 30-minute meal break.Factory workers are entitled to at least 60 minutes for lunch.Specifically, the following are the minimum requirements for meal breaks in New York State: In contrast, New York State law requires employers to provide certain employees meal breaks. However, if you are fortunate enough to have an enforceable offer letter or employment contract that spells out how much time you can take off for meals or other breaks, there is a good chance that provision is legally enforceable. These policies rarely are legally enforceable. Your right to take time off might be set by a formal policy in the company’s employee handbook, an informal policy or even an unwritten practice. While employers typically provide lunch and meal breaks in New Jersey, there is no legal requirement for most employers to provide any breaks. Whether it is a quick coffee break or a full lunch hour, the time off can help re-energize you and make it possible for you to give your best efforts throughout the day.īut are you legally entitled to take a break at work? The answer under New Jersey law is very different from the answer under New York law. You deserve to take a break every once in a while. Like most employees, you probably work long and hard hours at your job.
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