30 minute lunch for hourly employees

longie

Is is a federal and or PA requirement for all hourly employees to punch out for a 30 minute lunch when they work at least 7 continious hours?

Crout

No. You don't have to give a lunch break, and if you do, you don't have to pay for a break UNLESS they are required to work while eating lunch.

Don D

I'm sure Crout knows his PA stuff. There is no federal law requiring meal breaks. But, breaks of up to 20 minutes must be counted as work time and those that last more than 20 minutes need not, but may be, counted as work time if the ee is relieved of any duties.

Pork

LONGIE: My pig eared copy of Part 785, Section 785.19- MEAL, Pages 5 and 6) says: "BONA FIDE MEAL PERIODS. Bona fide meal periods are not worktime. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks (or smokes 8 minute burning periods, my #note). These are rest periods. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals. Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long enough under certain conditions. The employee is not relieved if he/she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating". (MY NOTE: period starts over, when the ee is called upon to do the slightest task for the comany, during a meal break!)

As "Dandy Don" has written above the government does not say a meal break is required; it just lays out, that if you do not give the employee a BONA FIDE MEAL BREAK then you must consider the normal time that someone would normally stop working and eating a meal, as working time and count it in the hours worked in that day.

My contact with the wage and hour folks over time has allowed me to include in our policy pages that the company requires a meal break be given to our employees "a 30 minute meal break within a normal 6 hour period of time and our management team is expected to give this period of time in their schedules of work as a matter of "safety" to the employee, for which we do not consider the time as paid time.

Now, there are some task scheduled that once started, we do not stop and take a meal break until after we complete the task. After which, we give our the employees either a meal break or they are released to go home. If there is other work to be performed a 30 minute meal break is given and then the employee continues to work until released.

Hope this helps you to understand and develop a company required meal and rest break policy that fits your companiew needs and satisfies the federal law.

Crout

Hey, you're not talking about an employee who is a minor, (under 18) are you? Minors must have a 30 minute break (unpaid if you choose) for every 5 hours worked. They also can't work more than 6 days a week, 44 hours a week, and 8 hours in a day. I was assuming you meant an adult employee.