Human Resource Blog

Paid Meal Breaks

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

	Compensation
Employee Payroll Action Form W-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Cert. Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Direct Deposit Form Total Compensation Summary

I’m a supervisor of investigators for a city police department in Minnesota. I work an 8 1/2 hour day and in that time I’m given a 1/2 hour lunch break that can be interrupted. This interrupted lunch break is clearly defined in our union contract. I carry my badge, gun, handcuffs, and would be required to act during my paid lunch break if needed. Being that I’m the supervisor of investigators, I always have my phone with me in case an investigator or other member of my department needs to contact me. Am I relieved of my work duties under these situations, or should I be receiving a paid lunch break?

This is such a complex situation that you really need to run it by both the US Department of Labor and the Minnesota Department of Labor. If you receive an answer, please post it to satisfy our curiosity.

The major issues are these: Under the FLSA, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, a meal period can be unpaid, if the employee is relieved of all duties. However, if the employee is working, or subject to recall to work, he or she must be paid. The typical example is a receptionist who must eat lunch at her desk in case the phone rings. Even on those days when the phone doesn’t ring during her break, she is still entitled to payment for the entire time.

Generally, the FLSA requires that an employee be “relieved of all duties” during an unpaid break. The US DOL specifically says, “this includes inactive or active work.” So, a factory worker who must watch his or her machine while eating, must be paid for the work – even if he ends up doing nothing during that period.

This is an especially important issue since under the FLSA, even highly paid, salaried law enforcement personnel are entitled to overtime when working more than 40 hours per week.

In many cases, employees are permitted under state and federal law to enter into a collective bargaining agreement – a union contract – that alters the usual arrangements for meals and breaks. This is not true of the minimum wage or overtime requirements. Those are rights that workers cannot bargain away, even if they want to. In some cases, the US Department of Labor has thrown out a collective bargaining agreement that gave up essential employment rights, including hours worked.

The fact that the employee is carrying his badge, gun and handcuffs probably would not affect whether he is entitled to be paid for his break or not. Carrying the tools of your trade doesn’t necessarily mean you are working. An office worker may eat lunch with her pen stuck behind her ear. That doesn’t mean that she’s working in the employee cafeteria.

It’s not really relevant to say that if the employee saw a crime, he might be called into action, either. That’s like saying he should be paid while he’s at the bowling alley on Tuesday nights, because if he saw a crime he could be called into action. (Or like saying an ER doctor should be paid while commuting, because he might see an accident and have to give medical attention to the injured.) That just comes with the territory of these particular career choices.

One determining factor might be how often the employee is genuinely required to work during his meal break. Does he receive job-related phone calls during his lunch break four times per week? Once per week? Once per month? Never?

Other factors might be whether or not the calls he receives are urgent, and whether or not there is someone else available to take those calls in the employee’s absence.  

Simply carrying a cell phone is probably not enough for an employee to be considered “working during his break” either. After all, nearly everyone carries a phone these days, and could conceivably be called during his or her break, by the employer. But very few are. On the other hand, if this employee must carry the phone and does regularly receive calls from work during meal breaks, then he may legitimately be working during that time.

For a determination under the Minnesota minimum wage, contact the Labor Standards Bureau of the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry at 651-284-5005.

For info about your status under federal law, contact the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor at 866-487-9243.