The federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to give their employees time off for lunch, dinner, etc. However, many states impose such requirements. Here’s a helpful reminder about the New York meal period rules.
Standard New York Meal Period
Every person employed in or in connection with a factory must be allowed at least an hour for the “noon day meal.” If a factory employee works a shift of 6 or more hours that starts between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., then they must also be allowed an hour meal period in the middle of the shift.
Employees other than those employed in or in connection with a factory must be allowed at least 30 minutes for the “noon day meal” if they work a shift of at least 6 hours that includes the hours from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
If a non-factory employee works a shift of 6 or more hours that starts between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., then they must be allowed a meal period of at least 45 minutes in the middle of the shift.
Additional Meal Period for All Employees
Any employee who works a shift that starts before 11:00 a.m. and ends after 7:00 p.m. must be allowed an additional meal period of at least 20 minutes between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Exempt Employees Included
The New York meal period requirements apply to all employees, including those exempt from minimum wage and overtime.
One Employee Shift Exception
In most cases, employees must be completely relieved from duty during the applicable meal periods. Accordingly, eating while working at one’s desk does not count as taking a meal period. And the burden and obligation is on the employer to ensure that each employee receives the required meal period. Usually, the employee cannot consent to forego lunch.
However, in very limited situations where there is only one employee on duty, the New York Department of Labor may permit an employee to voluntarily agree to take their required meal period while still on duty. This is principally recognized in the retail context, where an employee may be able to sit and eat behind a sales counter largely uninterrupted for much of the meal period. Even in these situations, an employee must be permitted to have a completely uninterrupted meal period upon request.
Shorter Meal Periods Permitted
As an enforcement matter, the NYSDOL permits any meal period to be shortened to no less than 30 minutes if there is no indication of hardship to employees.
The DOL may allow shorter meal periods of not less than 20 minutes only in special or unusual cases. This requires an investigation by the DOL and issuance of a special permit.
A New York Meal Period May Be Unpaid
The New York meal period law only requires that employees be relieved of duty to relax and eat. It does not require the employer to pay employees during that time. However, if, such as the case of the one employee shift exception, the employee is not fully relieved from duty, they must be paid for the time even if they eat while working.
Notably, the New York meal period law does not require employers to give employees any further breaks during their shift. However, if employees take breaks of less than 20 minutes during their shift, that break time must be included as hours worked and paid accordingly.
Most employers should require hourly employees to clock in and out (by some method or another) before and after unpaid meal periods, but not around breaks. In all cases, it is the employer’s obligation to have accurate time records showing actual time worked, especially for non-exempt employees. In the event of an audit by the NYSDOL, it is also important to specifically be able to show that employee receive the required New York meal periods.
Check out these other articles about important New York-specific employee requirements:
Are You Complying with New York Wage Notice Requirements?