Human Resource Blog

Maryland Paid Breaks

	Labor Laws
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If I am an employer in the State of Maryland and I provide my employees with a 15 minute paid break, can I mandate that they do not leave the premises?

Maryland law does not state whether an employer must allow for an employee to leave the premises when they are on a paid break.  However Maryland law does not have a law that requires employers to provide breaks, including lunch breaks, for workers 18 years old or older.  An employer who chooses to provide a break, however, does not have to pay wages for lunch periods or other breaks in excess of 20 minutes where the employee is free to leave the worksite (or workstation if leaving the workplace is physically impractical), in fact takes their lunch or break (whether freely choosing to leave or remain at the worksite), and the employee does not actually perform work. If employees are told their pay will be reduced each day by one-half hour for lunch, and they are not free to take this lunch period without an expectation or reasonable understanding that they must work or be on hand to work, they must be paid for the time. A reasonable understanding that they must work or be on hand to work is a condition in which it is generally known, or the employee reasonably believes, that failure to perform work (or be available on hand to perform work) during their break, will result in some negative effect on employment.

Since Maryland does not require a break to be provide and since you are providing a paid break, I think it is only within reason to advise the employees to stay on the worksite.