Human Resource Blog

Am I entitled to leave for lunch for one hour? North Carolina

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I work in NC and run a store by myself. I work 9 hours everyday, I am a salaried employee and I wanted to know if I am entitled to leave for lunch by law? Any advice would be helpful.

Employers can legitimately require employees to remain on the premises, even during unpaid meal breaks.

The relevant law here is the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA, which sets payment standards for rest breaks and meal breaks nationwide. The FLSA does not require that employers give breaks to workers over 18. However, the law does establish which breaks must be paid and which can be unpaid, if the employer chooses to give breaks.

Under the FLSA, short rest breaks that are less than 20 minutes long must be paid. Longer meal breaks may be unpaid if the employee is completely relieved of all duties during the break. An employee who must eat at her work station, or work while eating, must be paid for the entire time.

However, the FLSA regulations specifically mention that the employer can require employees to remain on the premises during unpaid meal breaks.

There is no North Carolina law that requires employers to give meal or rest breaks to workers over the age of 16. Under state law, employees who are 14 or 15 years old are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid meal break after working 5 hours.  

This employee mentions “running a store by herself” so it’s not clear if there is another clerk available to relieve her during breaks. If no other employee is available and the worker must eat between taking care of customers, she would be entitled to payment for the entire lunch hour. However, the employer would still be within his or her rights to require the employee to remain on the premises. Most employers would regard it as gross misconduct for the employee to leave the store unattended, even for a few minutes.

This would be true, even if the employee’s shift was 16 hours per day or more.