Human Resource Blog

Georgia Meal Breaks in Hospital

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

	HR Management
Confidential Employee Folder Confidential Employee Medical Folder Job File Worksheet Folder Daily EEO Applicant Flow Log Workplace Information Sheets Request to Inspect Personnel Files

An employee works the night shift 7 pm - 7 am, by herself in the department for 12 hours. She can’t leave the department unattended for a meal break. However, she is docked 30 min for her meal break even though she is working during that time. The employees are docked a half hour, whether they eat or not. Is this legal under federal or Georgia law? It’s in a hospital admissions department.

This is not legal. Under the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must pay workers for meal breaks, unless the employee is relieved of all duties on a break of 20 minutes or more. It appears that this employee is never relieved of all duites — if a patient walks in, she has to admit him. The Georgia minimum wage law also includes a similar provision.

Sometimes HR pros forget working conditions on the night shift when making policies. It is probable that this hospital has a policy that all workers must take meal breaks. They have simply overlooked the fact that for certain employees on the night shift, that is impossible. Or, it may be that a supervisor is supposed to relieve the worker, and simply fails to do so. Either way, the HR department should change this policy in regards to this worker. Otherwise, the worker could report the employer to the US Department of Labor or the Georgia Department of Labor.