FLSA brain twister: How to determine when breaks are compensable

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.