Employers can deduct meal breaks from employees' time worked under some circumstances.
Many employers maintain meal break deduction policies, including a requirement for a day meal break deduction. Although employers require daily meal break deductions, employees are often too busy to take an uninterrupted meal break. However, employers are only allowed to apply meal break deductions if employees receive a bona fide meal period.
What is a bona fide meal period?
An employer can deduct bona fide meal periods from employees' time worked. A bona fide meal period is "not worktime" but instead is a "rest period." During a bona fide meal period, employees must be completely relieved from work so that they can eat a regular meal. An employee is not relieved if they are required to perform any job duties while eating. In most cases, bona fide meal periods must be 30 minutes.
Breaks of under 30 minutes are generally not bona fide meal periods. If a meal break is split into several shorter time periods that add to 30 minutes total, this is not a bona fide meal period. Simply because an employee is able to eat on the go or while performing other work activities, that would not constitute a bona fide meal period.
In other words, if an employee's meal break is interrupted by work or they are otherwise performing work during their meal break, then they are not receiving a bona fide meal period. If employees do not receive a bona fide meal period, then no meal break deduction can legally be taken.
What happens if an employee does not receive a bona fide meal period?
If an employee does not receive a bona fide meal period, then an employer cannot legally apply a meal break deduction. Instead, an employer should credit the employee for the missed or interrupted meal break. The employee should get the full benefit of the time that would have been deducted.
Many employers blame employees for not taking a meal break or they otherwise present obstacles for employees to be paid for the missed or interrupted meal breaks. This is not legal. An employer should properly compensate employees if they do not receive a meal break.
Who should I call with questions about being paid for missed meal breaks?
We recommend that you speak with experienced employment attorneys to discuss your right to be paid if you have interrupted or missed meal breaks. The inability to take a fully uninterrupted meal break is common in certain industries, such as the healthcare industries. If you would like to speak with employment attorneys regarding your right to pay for missed or interrupted meal breaks, feel free to contact Columbus Ohio employment lawyers at Coffman Legal.
