Employer Must Pay for Meal Breaks if they Interrupt the Employee
"You get a rest break every four hours," the seasoned warehouseman told me back in the 1970's. He knew everything. I just assumed he was right about this, too. But, since then, I have never seen anything in law or regulation stating that workers were entitled to a 15 minute break every 4 hours. But, there is a regulation encouraging employers to provide a rest break every so often. "Encouraging" is not the same as requiring. Now, I tend to believe the rest break tradition was simply a vestige of the days when collective bargaining agreements were much more common.
I also heard there was a requirement for a meal break every so many hours. That is also not necessarily true. But, if your employer provides a meal break, they must not interrupt you unless they are paying you for that break. As the regulation says, if the meal break is bona fide, then it cannot be worktime. These regulations are all enforced under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
