Human Resource Blog

Employee Breaks

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My son works for a temp service as a supervisor at [company deleted]. He says the company says they are entitled to one 30 minute break. Is this true? 

Depending upon the state that the employee is in, he might not be legally entitled to any breaks.

The majority of U.S. states do not require that employers give workers over the age of 18 any breaks. This is true, even if the shift is 12 hours long or longer.

There is no federal law that requires employers to give any breaks. This includes meal breaks, “coffee” or rest breaks and smoking breaks.

Federal law and the child labor laws in many states require breaks for workers under 18.

Eight states require that employers give short “rest” breaks in addition to a meal break. These states are: California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Usually, these breaks are 10 to 15 minutes long, and required every 4 hours.

A total of 19 states require that employees be given a meal break. These include all the states mentioned above, plus Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia.

In some cases these laws are very limited. In Illinois, for example, state law requires breaks only for hotel maids working in the city of Chicago.

OSHA requires employers to furnish restrooms and that employees be permitted to use them. However, in some cases, depending upon the type of business, the bathroom breaks may be limited to certain times. If, for example, an entire assembly line must be shut down if one person goes on break, then employees may have to wait for a supervisor to relieve them.

In a few professions, OSHA or another federal agency requires rest breaks. For example, the Department of Transportation requires certain breaks for long-haul truckers.

If the employee is working under a union contract, that might specify breaks. However, that would be unusual for the employee of a temp agency.

For a more specific answer, please post a question mentioning the state.