Time Out and Off Work

Do you think your employer has to be generous with work breaks and days off? Think again. The laws in this area definitely favor the employer.

Rest Breaks

Under federal law, private (non-government) employers aren't required to provide employees with scheduled break times or meal times. The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), which sets a minimum wage and an overtime requirement, doesn't regulate this aspect of an employee's work life.

If an employer chooses to voluntarily provide a short rest break to its employees, it's considered "work time" under federal law, for which employees must receive compensation.

The following states also have laws or administrative orders requiring most private employers to provide their non-exempt employees with a short paid rest break every four hours:

• California
• Colorado
• Kentucky
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Washington

In most of these states, the required break is to be scheduled, where practicable, in the middle of the four-hour period. All of the states, except for Minnesota, specify that the break is to last 10 minutes. Minnesota law declares that the break is to be long enough to provide the employees with adequate time to use the nearest restroom facilities. Washington law specifies that an employee may not be required to work for more than a three-hour period without a rest break.

Meal Breaks

Breaks for meals are generally longer than standard break times, so federal law doesn't require that this time be paid.

Nineteen states have laws requiring many private employers to offer some form of meal-time break to their non-exempt employees, provided that the employees work for a minimum number of consecutive hours (minimum ranges from five hours to eight hours). Thirty-three states require employers to provide meal times to child employees.

Most of the statutes providing for a mandatory meal-time break require a one-half hour break; although a number of the states require only a 20-minute break. Most states don't require employers to pay for meal-time breaks. But some states allow the meal to be paid if the employee may eat on the job. Other states allow employers and employees to agree to a waiver of the otherwise mandatory meal-time break.

Weekends

In some states, employees must be given one day off out of every seven. But this doesn't mean you get a day each week off. Your employer can require you to work as many as 12 days in a row and still be within the law.

Vacations and Holidays

No private employer has to offer vacation or holiday time off, with or without pay.

If an employee chooses to voluntarily offer vacation pay, however, employees are entitled to it under whatever conditions it was offered under their employment contract. It's always the contract that rules what the legal agreement was.

In the following states, for example, employers must offer an employee accrued vacation pay when that employee leaves:

• California
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Tennessee

You may not be entitled to accrued vacation pay if you haven't fulfilled the requirements of your employment contract.

An employer who chooses to voluntarily offer vacation pay may also restrict the conditions under which it is available. An employer may:

• Require you to schedule your vacation at certain times
• Insist you schedule your vacation a certain amount of time in advance
• Only give vacation time after a certain minimum period of employment
• Pro-rate vacations for part-time employees
• Not give temporary employees vacation time
• Limit how much vacation time can be stacked before it is lost