Texas Lunch and Break Law

August 7th, 2006 Posted by Sarah

I find that many employees and employers alike wonder what the state laws mandate as far as lunches and breaks are concerned. You might find it interesting to know that Texas is a state where employers are not required to give any lunch breaks or other breaks to employees

While there isn’t a state law on the books about lunches and breaks, there are applicable federal laws for Texans. Many people believe that they are entitled to a meal or break under federal law, but this is not the case. The federal law does offer instructions for employers as to whether or not an employee should be paid during these times if any meals or breaks are offered.

Short rest breaks (often 20 minutes or less) must not be deducted from an employee’s daily pay. Lunch breaks or other true meal periods are usually 30 minutes or more, and do not need to be counted or paid as work time. Employees must stop work entirely during this meal break in order for it not to be paid. If the employee is still required to do any work duties (even something as minor as answering a phone), it must instead be a paid meal break.

Federal law also contains other regulations of interest related to employee pay during times of waiting, sleeping and traveling. With the issue of sleeping time, an employee who is scheduled to be on duty for less than 24 hours is considered to be “working” even if he or she is permitted to sleep during some of that time. If an employee is working more than 24 hours, a sleeping period of up to eight hours may be deducted from his or her pay. However, this can only be done if sleeping facilities is provided and at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep may be achieved by the employee.

Many of us spend a lot of time each day in the car or traveling in some form of public transportation. Can any of this be paid as work time? The general rule is that time spent in the normal day’s travel to and from work is not considered paid working time. However, if an employee is traveling in the course of a day’s work, it must be counted as paid work hours.

A final issue I’ll cover in this blog entry is waiting time. In some situations waiting time should be paid, but not in all circumstances. If an employee is allowed to pursue personal interests while waiting for another task to be finished or while waiting at the workplace for his or her services to be called upon, it is generally counted as work time. However, if an employee is waiting to be called upon from home or elsewhere, but has great freedom to do what he or she wishes while on call (and has plenty of time to respond to the call), it is not generally considered paid work time.

A thorough listing helpful information on the laws related to lunches, breaks and other pertinent labor issues can be found on the Texas Complete Labor Law Poster.

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Posted in Employment Laws, Texas, Wage and Hour

  1. Posted by: Les Clifton

    I am looking for something on labor laws. My mother works for Walmart in the garden department and is made to work out side in 100 degrees temp and not allowed to that any water are any other drinks when she are others are working.

    The rest of the departments in the hole store in side are allowed to keep drinks
    at the regesters, why should the garden center be any defrent knowing they are
    in the heat.
    She is afraid to say any thing because she has on other things in the past and her boss made it harder on her. If you can help, are give us advice please e-mail @
    lclifton15@yahoo.com Bellmand TX

  2. Posted by: Kami Reynolds

    Hi. I am a 21-yr-old mom who works 48+ hours a week in a convenience store in Texas.

    Our district manager told us that we are not allowed any break periods whatsoever….not even something as small as being able to sit outside and smoke a cigarette when we have no customers, even if all of our work is done.

    Apparently, we are supposed to stand on our feet and work continually for 8+ hours a day with no break, no sitting, nothing.

    Some people might say “oh, you work in a C-Store, it’s easy!” but it’s not. Especially when you have 3 herniated disks in your back, a bad hip, and an 8-month-old son at home who keeps you up continually (he was born nearly 3 months premature, so he sometimes still has difficulty with that sleeping through the night thing).

    My husband, a 41-yr-old convenience store employee, is not treated so shabbily at his store (it’s a different company). Granted, he doesn’t get an official “break” either, but he is allowed to sit and rest when there are no customers.

    We want to have another child, but we are extremely concerned about the laws regarding breaks in Texas. Seeing as I have given birth prematurely once, my risk of having another premature baby has gone up form the average 10-14% to a whopping 65-75%. When I had my son, I worked for an extremely busy Whataburger in San Antonio (another constant-standing job). We are very concerned that if I am not allowed 15 minute breaks or at least a few minutes to sit down, that I will have another high-risk baby.

    What are the laws (pregnant or not) for convenince store employees…..and what are the laws for someone who is pregnant? Am I going to have to just suck it up? Or is there a better way?? I very much want another baby, but not if it would risk that child’s wellbeing and mine as well.

    Any input whatsoever is appreciated!

    Thank you!

    Kami Reynolds
    New Braunfels, TX

  3. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Kami!! This isn’t what you asked, but the first thing that I am going to suggest is that with your physical problems, you look for a job that does not involve being on your feet all day. It may help if you take some classes at your local community college to improve your skills. As hard as it is right now to stand all day, it is going to be much more difficult when you are 30, 40 or 50 years old.

    Many people who had no problem being on their feet all day at 21 find it physically challenging at 41. Even waiting tables, where you walk all day, can be less physically taxing than standing.

    Now, to answer your questions…there is no law that an employer must give a worker breaks to sit in Texas (or under federal law.) This is strictly a matter of company policy. Many store owners would not mind, others want their employees in the store, in front of the cash register, the entire time.

    Under ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers must make reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilites. If you had paperwork from your doctor certifying that you could not stand for extended periods, you might find your employer would be required to provide a bar stool or other seat behind the register for you. However, this would only be true if your condition met the EEOC defintion of a disability,and you could still perform the essential job duties. (This would be true, whether you were pregnant or not.) It could backfire, if the employer decided that it meant you were unable to perform the job, and terminated you.

    Employers are not required to make any special accommodation for pregnant workers, that are not required for other workers with similar physical problems. For a more complete discussion, please post your questions at our sister site at http://www.laborlawtalk.com. HTH,and thanks for reading the blogs!~Ameila

  4. Posted by: Tricia

    Hello, my name is Tricia and I work full time at a car dealership as a cashier. I was curious about a few things they might do a little differently then at other places. I work every day but Wednesday(off day) from 1:30pm to 9:30 pm including every Sunday from noon to 5:00 (to sometimes even 6pm) and work every 3rd Saturday from 7:00 am to 5:00(to also 6pm alot). I am the only cashier scheduled to work on my scheduled days which means there are only one of us working in a day. I do not get scheduled breaks or lunches and they stated that if I wanted to leave for lunch I would have to come in an extra hour early making my schedule change from 12:30 to 9:30pm. They also do not allow many employees to hit overtime, which I know alot of employers are doing.

    When and IF I do get the chance to go heat up my meal or grab a snack out of the snack machine they page me on the overhead and ask me to report back to the cashier station because I have a customer waiting. Which again allows me NO time to eat my food or ever barely have time to heat it up.

    NOTE: I am pregnant and we constantly have to be standing up waiting on customers and if we aren’t busy with a customer we must be in the back filing paperwork which requires us to stand or sit on a hard floor or even a step ladder sometime and file. We stay pretty busy and I like working at this job but I feel like they are using and abusing my working schedule.

    On Sundays when I work I get paid the same amout that I get paid on a regular work week.. I’ve heard that if you are working on Sundays you MUST get paid an extra hour.. is this true?? On Sundays, every Sunday, they have hotdogs and pizza for the customers which they stated we, the employees, are NOT ALLOWED to touch or eat at all or we would be “terminated”. Unless otherwise stated by the manager. and again no breaks for us.. we must bring our own lunch and “FIND TIME” to nit pick and eat it when we aren’t busy with a customer.

    I’m stressed out and kind of thinking about looking for another job only because I am pregnant and this isn’t healthy or good for myself or the baby. Every one else gets lunch breaks and little small smoke or snack breaks and we are stuck back here slaving. I mean I cant even go to the bathroom without comming out and having 6 or 7 customers waiting on me to get back!!! How stressful, huh??

    What should I do.. am I being mistreated or is this just how working is suposed to be? I tried looking online at the TEXAS WORKFORCE LABOR LAWS and got to scan through a few of the sites that give me NO info whatsoever but of course the sites that would have probably given me the useful info that I need were BLOCKED! and I couldnt even view them :(

  5. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Tricia! Wow, your post raises a lot of issues. We’re going to try to address all of them, but first…

    A few states have employment laws that provide all kinds of protections for employees. Texas is not one of them. There are relaitively few Texas employment laws that provide benefits for workers, other than the state minimum wage. So many of these answers are not going to be the ones that you would prefer to hear.

    Texas has no break law, and federal law does not require any breaks for workers in general industry. OSHA requires that employees be permitted to use the restroom. Other than that, there is no requirement that you be allowed to leave your work station during the shift. A Texas employer could require that employees work 8, 10, 12 or even 20 hours with no meal break. And many do. The employer is under no obligation to allow employees to leave the premises for a meal. There is no requirement that employees be provided with a hot meal, or be permitted to heat a meal that they bring from home.

    Under the law, employers must permit workers to drink water at their work station. Especially because you are pregnant, the employer should probably permit you to snack at your work station (which they do.) Our suggestion is that you pack healthy snacks and small meals that can be served at room temperature to eat during the day at your desk. We suggest sandwiches, salads, fruits and veggies, protein bars, trail mix, nuts, cheese, and milk in a thermos. It may make more sense for you to eat a full “dinner” at home before you come to work, and think of the meal you eat at work in the evening as “lunch.”

    The job requirements don’t change simply because the employee is pregnant. Pregnancy is not necessarily a disability under the EEOC guidelines. If you are unable to be on your feet all or most of the day, your doctor should provide you with a note that says so. That may mean that you will have to take unpaid time off work.

    There is no law in Texas that employees who work on Sunday must be paid at a higher rate, or for an additional hour. Nor is there in 95% of other states.

    Employers can offer benefits to customers, that they don’t offer to employees. This includes offering free hotdogs and pizza. So, yes, they can terminate an employee who takes food from them. (If it’s any help, this is true at many jobs. Hotel employees are not permitted to use the hotel pool. Often bar employees are not permitted to drink there, even on their day off. It may even be wise for an employer to treat employees and customers differently.) Besides, hot dogs and pizza are not the healthiest foods for you or your baby.

    We’ve noticed that a lot of misery is caused by the idea that “everyone else gets meal breaks and smoke breaks but we don’t.” Our mail shows that about 66% of employees receive no meal break, unless it is required by the state. (And, in states where unpaid breaks are required, about 25% of the employees wish they didn’t have to take one!) So the grass isn’t always greener.

    Having 6 or 7 customers waiting for you when you come out of the bathroom is actually a good thing…it means the business is thriving, and your job is probably secure. If there was no one waiting for you, you might need to worry about being laid off due to declining revenue.

    A great source for info on Texas employment laws is the Texas Workforce Commission at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/. Or, you can post questions for us to answer, or on our sister site at http://www.laborlawtalk.com. We do not believe that your employer is intentionally blocking sites with info about labor laws.

    We don’t see anything in your post that suggests that you are being mistreated or that your job is especially stressful. Yes, most employees are expected to be productive pretty much all of the time. Work is not fun…that’s why they call it work. And it would be great if all states required breaks for workers…but they don’t. Sorry that we can’t offer more help. Please feel free to post any additional questions! And thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

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