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Breaks, vacation & sick time

The amount of vacation time, sick time and rest breaks that a worker is entitled to is often at the discretion of the employer, but there are some legal protections for workers.

• Breaks
• Meal breaks and rest breaks
• Do I have to pay my employees during breaks?
• Vacation
• Sick Time
  

Breaks

Some employees (especially those who work long shifts) are given breaks by their employers. The length and timing of those breaks is usually decided by the employer, subject to certain state law restrictions.

Meal breaks and rest breaks

There is no federal law that requires a meal or rest break. However, your state might have a law that requires you to give the employee time off for meals (like a lunch break) or for a rest break (perhaps a mid-afternoon break). Such a law might entitle the worker to, for example, a 30-minute meal break for every 5 hours of work and a 10-minute break for every four hours of work.

If the employee belongs to a union, the union contract probably provides for breaks.

Do I have to pay my employees during breaks?

That depends on your state law.

Generally, you might have to pay an employee for a break of less than 20 minutes of uninterrupted time, but you might not have to pay for a longer, uninterrupted, break.