Overtime and state rules · rules read October 11, 2026
Meal and rest breaks: what is paid and what is required
Two separate questions sit behind every break: does the law require it, and does it count as paid time on the card.
Written by Radif Partners · How the hours are counted · Editorial policy
Hours worked
8:00
8.00 decimal hours
| Start | 9:00 AM → 9:00 AM |
| End | 5:30 PM → 5:30 PM |
| Same times on the 24-hour clock | 09:00 to 17:30 |
| Time at work before the break | 8:30 |
| Exact minutes worked (no rounding) | 8:00 |
Rounding is accepted only if it averages out over time and does not shortchange the worker (29 CFR 785.48(b)). A shift that ends at or before its start time is counted into the next day. How this is calculated.
Federal law does not require employers to give meal or rest breaks at all, but when a break is given, its length decides whether it is paid. Under 29 CFR 785.18, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes count as hours worked and stay on the time card. A bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or more during which the worker is completely relieved of duties, is not work time under 785.19 and can be deducted. A shift punched from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM with a real half-hour lunch therefore pays 8 hours, or $168.00 at $21 an hour. Some states add requirements on top of this. California requires a 30-minute meal for a workday longer than 5 hours, a second one past 10 hours, and a paid 10-minute rest for every four hours or major fraction; a missed break costs the employer 1 extra hour of pay for that day. Colorado requires a 30-minute meal after 5 consecutive hours and a paid 10-minute rest per four hours.
Paid or unpaid break? (federal rule)
Hours to pay
8.50
| Break treatment | Rest break, counts as work |
Paid minutes and unpaid minutes on a federal time card
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets no break schedule. Fact Sheet #22 is explicit on the point: an employer covered only by federal law may run an eight-hour shift without a single pause. What the federal rules do regulate is the arithmetic once a pause exists. A short stop for coffee, a restroom visit or a smoke is presumed to help the employer, because it keeps the worker efficient, so 29 CFR 785.18 counts rests of roughly 5 to 20 minutes as hours worked. Those minutes stay inside the shift and feed the weekly overtime total.
A meal is different. Under 29 CFR 785.19, a bona fide meal period is not worktime, but two conditions have to hold together. It is ordinarily 30 minutes or longer, and the employee is completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating. A receptionist who eats at the front desk while covering the phones has not had a meal period in the legal sense, however long it lasted. In those cases the lunch is paid time and should not appear as a deduction on the card.
Here is the effect on one shift. Punched in at 7:30 AM and out at 4:00 PM, the span is 8:30. With a genuine half-hour lunch, 8 hours are paid; with two ten-minute coffee breaks and no meal, all 8.5 hours are paid. At $21 an hour, the gap is $10.50 a day, about $52.50 over a five-day week. The hours calculator takes the unpaid minutes as an input so you can test either version, and the rounding guide explains what happens when the punches themselves are rounded.
| Break | Federal treatment | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 20 min rest | Paid, counts toward overtime | 29 CFR 785.18 |
| 30 min or more, fully off duty | Unpaid, deducted | 29 CFR 785.19 |
| Meal taken while working | Paid, whatever the length | 29 CFR 785.19 |
| Between 20 and 30 min | Treat as paid unless a real meal | Both sections |
California: a schedule set by the Labor Commissioner
California turns breaks into an obligation with a price tag. The DLSE meal period FAQ requires a 30-minute meal when the workday runs past 5 hours, and a second one once it passes 10 hours. The first meal can be waived by mutual consent under specific circumstances, and the FAQ lists them; outside those cases the lunch has to happen. The rest period FAQ adds a paid 10-minute rest for each four hours worked or major fraction of that, with no rest owed on a day shorter than 3.5 hours.
| Hours worked in the day | Paid rests | Meal periods |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | 3 | 2 |
| 12 | 3 | 2 |
When a required break does not happen, the employer owes 1 extra hour of pay at the regular rate for that workday. For a cook earning $21 who works through lunch on a nine-hour shift, that is $21 added to the paycheck. This premium is separate from overtime: the nine hours already include 1 hour of daily overtime under California overtime, and the missed-meal hour sits on top of it.
Colorado: rest periods counted by the table
Colorado's COMPS Order #40, effective February 1, 2026, requires an uninterrupted 30-minute meal once a shift exceeds 5 consecutive hours. Rest periods of 10 minutes are paid and follow a fixed table rather than a formula, which matters for long healthcare and warehouse shifts.
| Work hours in the shift | Paid rest periods |
|---|---|
| Up to 2 | 0 |
| More than 2, up to 6 | 1 |
| More than 6, up to 10 | 2 |
| More than 10, up to 14 | 3 |
| More than 14, up to 18 | 4 |
| More than 18, up to 22 | 5 |
| More than 22, up to 24 | 6 |
A 12-hour shift in Colorado therefore carries 3 paid rests and one meal. Because the rests are paid, they stay inside the hours on the card and count toward the weekly total. The Colorado overtime page covers the 12-hour daily threshold that the same long shift can trigger.