Lunch Breaks and Overtime

mistytee

Can an employee work during his/her lunchtime and get paid overtime for those hours if the week hours exceed 40?
What employment law, if any, governs this?

Richard Rainey NC

The applicable law is the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Assuming this is a non-exempt employee the FLSA requires that an employee must be paid for hours worked. If the hours worked in a work week exceed 40 hours then overtime rates must be paid on those hours over 40. Thus work performed during the lunch hour is work time and needs to be counted as hours worked and compensated appropriately.

Margaret Morford

You can discuss with the employee the necessity of not working through lunch and not exceeding 40 hours. If the employee continues to do it, you can issue corrective action to the employee for not following your instructions. But you still have to pay them overtime each time they exceed 40 hours.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

mistytee

We don't mind if our employees to work through their lunch hour, but I guess my question is.... Is there a law that says an employee must take a lunch break (1/2 hour, hour, etc.) Would we be able to say "According to ABC law, employees must take a lunch break after so many # of hours worked"?

Theresa Gegen TX

Federal law does not require lunch breaks. However, if you want to have the employee take an unpaid break, there is a threshold amount of time (I believe it is atleast 20 minutes), before it can be an unpaid break.

Your stage wage and hour law, or health and safety regs might require breaks. Most states don't, but that is where I would check.

Of course, as an employer, you can require the employee to take a lunch break of a certain amount of time -- which I think is a good idea from a mental health standpoint. It gives the employee a break during the day.

Good Luck!

Pork

fed Regulation part 785 and section 785.18 &.19 walk you through the Rest and Meal breaks. Some where in these wonderful guides there is a section that takes 6 hour blocks of time as the guide and need for a rest break. Rest break is also a meal break and is not compensatable; however, should your receptionist be sitting at her desk and answers the phone. Bam there goes your rest break and pay is required, another 30 minute rest break should begin. Good Luck got to run . Pork