The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is complicated. So, the best way to learn is by posing a question, deconstructing the issues, and then answering them.
Facts
An employee works in a sprawling facility. She gets a 30-minute unpaid meal period. It takes between five and 10 minutes to walk to her car, same upon her return. The math leaves her only 20 minutes at most to take a meal outside the workplace. This naturally discourages employees from taking meal breaks off-site.
Issues
Well, there are three issues.
First, are employees entitled to a meal break under the FLSA?
No.
Second, must the employer pay the employee for the meal break?
No, a meal break isn’t work time as long as the employee is free from working. Now, this doesn’t require “absolute” freedom for the break to be noncompensable. By way of example, the break was noncompensable for casino security guards who weren’t permitted to leave the casino and were required to monitor their radios. Naturally, answering a radio call is compensable provided the time involved is more than de minimis.
Third, can an employer require an employee to stay on premises during the meal break?
Yes. It follows from the foregoing that merely requiring an employee to remain on the employer’s premises doesn’t convert meal break time into compensable time.
Want to learn more? Check out Haviland v. Catholic Health Initiatives Iowa, Corp., 729 F. Supp. 2d 1038, 1062 (S.D. Iowa 2010) for a collection of cases on the subject.
Bottom Line
Department of Labor (DOL) Opinion Letter FLSA 2026-7 sums it up:
The fact that an employee is required to eat [their] meal on the employer’s premises or is minimally restricted in the activities they may perform does not convert this meal period into compensable time. Moreover, because the employer may lawfully require employees to remain on the premises for the meal period, the fact that an off-site meal may be difficult to undertake in the time provided does not affect whether [an employee receives] a bona fide meal period.
Bon appetit!
P.S.: Note that the FLSA does require you to afford breaks in certain circumstances. For example, most employees who are nursing have the right to reasonable break time to express breast milk while at work. This right is available for up to one year after the child’s birth, according to Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Fact Sheet #73: FLSA Protections for Employees to Pump Breast Milk at Work.
Michael P. Maslanka is a professor at the UNT-Dallas College of Law. You can reach him at michael.maslanka@untdallas.edu.