Human Resource Blog

May an employer terminate an employee for taking the mandatory lunch break at the end of the shift.

The company mandated that all employees take a one (1)hour lunch break each day. The work day started at eight and ended at five. Since case managers spend most of their time in the field, the mandated lunch period was taken whenever time permitted. Some of the case managers took their mandatory lunch period at the end of the shift from four p.m. to five p.m. Management wants to terminate those employees for theft of company time.

In most states, the doctrine of employment-at-will means that you, as an employer, can terminate any employee at any time for any reason or for no reason.

In this case, it is perfectly reasonable and lawful for the employer to require that an employee take a one-hour unpaid lunch during the day. Many employers do so, even in states where there is no break law that requires a meal break.

It is perfectly lawful and reasonable for the employer to establish the work hours. In this case, the work hours are 8 am to 5 pm. An employee who leaves work at 4 pm has not met the employers minimum standards for performance, any more than an employee who routinely showed up at 9 am would have met the employers minimum standard of performance.

Our only suggestion is that you terminate the employee for violating company policy (meal break and hours worked) rather than theft of company time. But yes, if the employee is being paid to work until 5 pm and they are only working until 4 pm, that would be a theft of company time.

Many employees, especially younger employees, assume that they can skip their meal break and leave an hour early. In fact, to the employer these are two entirely separate issues. We would like to see you go through a disciplinary process first, but you are justified in terminating this employee.

In a few states this answer might be different.