Meal & Rest Break Violations
If you are a non-exempt employee and work more than 5 hours, your employer must provide you with the opportunity to take an uninterrupted meal period, of at 30 minutes, which must begin before you start your sixth hour of work. You can waive this meal period if you are working less than 6 hours for the day. You are entitled to a second meal period if you work more than 10 hours in a day, which must begin before your start your eleventh hour of work. You can waive the second meal period if you work less than 12 hours and did not waive your first meal period. These meal periods can be unpaid. Your employer may not round the time you punch out and in for meal periods.
If you are a non-exempt employee, your employer must also provide you with the opportunity to take rest periods. If you work more than 3.5 hours per day, your employer must provide a paid rest period of at least 10 minutes that is duty-free and uninterrupted. The break should be available to you in the middle of each 4-hour work period. The number of rest breaks you are entitled to is based on the length of your workday, as follows:
- One 10-minute rest break for work shifts from 3.5 hours to 6 hours.
- Two 10-minute rest breaks for work shifts of more than 6 hours up to 10 hours.
- Three 10-minute rest breaks for work shifts of more than 10 hours up to 14 hours.
If your employer does not provide these meal and rest breaks, it is supposed to pay you one hour of pay, at your regular rate, for one missed meal break and one missed rest break per day.