For various reasons, legal issues concerning paid and unpaid breaks during the workday are among the less well-understood by some employers, leading to difficulties.
Requirements concerning breaks are generally a matter of state law, rather than a federal one, experts told BLR. Illinois, Massachusetts and other states have laws pertaining to employee breaks, but the specifics vary between states. This may be a source of confusion for multi-state employers. Among the complications they face is the fact that some states may single out specific industries or types of workers, such as hotel cleaning employees, while others lump them together in a larger group.
Employers frequently pay for breaks that are limited to no more than 20 minutes in duration, since these are seen as beneficial opportunities to refresh workers and strengthen productivity. In contrast, the expectation that rest periods will be paid often decreases as the size of the break increases. About 20 states require employers to give their workers a break to eat a meal. This can become an issue depending on how time is tracked.
Employees sometimes continue to work during their scheduled lunch break in order to catch up. A more problematic case can occur when an employer prevents the worker from taking his or her break. This can occur frequently in certain industries, the news source notes, such as healthcare. Workers may be forced to schedule their time around patient needs or miss a break in order to deal with backed-up work in any field.
Specifics of paid and unpaid breaks may lead to employer mistakes
Typically, it is a legal requirement of break laws that employees must be compensated for all time spent working and any unpaid breaks cannot be interrupted. Experts note that payment systems which automatically subtract scheduled rest periods can be problematic as a result, despite the convenience they might offer most of the time. Employers should also be ready for workers who want to work through a lunch break and then leave early, a common desire.
When using such a system, employers should be prepared to record exceptions so that employees can easily track when a break was cut short or interrupted by their work. Choosing to withhold compensation associated with paid breaks as a disciplinary measure when the time is being abused is not a wise choice, according to one expert, and may be construed as a failure of HR compliance, with legal ramifications.
