The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not prohibit employers from requiring workers to stay on premises during their lunch time. However, employers should carefully consider the wage and hour implications of having a policy that forbids employees to leave during lunch. It is possible, depending on the wording and application of such a policy, that the time could be considered "on-call" time and therefore compensable.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's FLSA Hours Worked Advisor:
“An employee who is required to remain on his or her employer’s premises or so close thereto that he or she cannot use the time effectively for his or her own purposes is working while on-call.
Whether hours spent on-call is hours worked is a question of fact to be decided on a case-by-case basis. All on-call time is not hours worked.
On-call situations vary. Some employees are required to remain on the employer's premises or at a location controlled by the employer. One example is a hospital employee who must stay at the hospital in an on-call room. While on-call, the employee is able to sleep, eat, watch television, read a book, etc. but is not allowed to leave the hospital. Other employees are able to leave their employer's premises, but are required to stay within so many minutes or so many miles of the facility and be accessible by telephone or by pager. An example of this type of employee is an apartment maintenance worker who has to carry a pager while on call and must remain within a specified number of miles of the apartment complex.”
The FLSA regulation §785.19 further clarifies:
(a) Bona fide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods are not work time. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks. These are rest periods. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals. Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long enough under special conditions. The employee is not relieved if he is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. For example, an office employee who is required to eat at his desk or a factory worker who is required to be at his machine is working while eating.
(b) Where no permission to leave premises. It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period.
In summary, the key in determining whether the time is compensable is the degree of freedom the employee has from work duties during the meal period. Employers should also be aware of state laws governing meal and break periods, as some state laws may provide more protection for employees than the federal law does.
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