Washington State Work Break Laws Overview
In Washington state, the work break laws help ensure that employees are treated fairly while setting reasonable limits on what employers can require of their employees. Considered to be among the most employee-friendly in the country, their laws recognize that allowing employees to take breaks is an integral aspect of maintaining a functioning workforce. Washington state law requires that hour-long shifts have a 10-minute paid rest period each hour and half-hour shifts have an additional 10 minutes of paid rest time. For every straight or irregularly scheduled shift of four hours or more, employees must be allowed at least ten minutes of paid rest activity. Similarly, employees scheduled to work five or more consecutive hours of work must be allowed at least thirty minutes to eat a meal and are also entitled to a paid, 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked . The purpose of these laws is to ensure that workers get sufficient time to rest, eat, and recoup during their work day. Disregarding these laws can lead to increased risks of accidents and injuries as a result of fatigue. In addition, allowing employees to enjoy at least a few minutes of relaxation also contributes to morale, motivation, and productivity. Washington State work break laws apply to almost all employees, including those working in private homes or businesses, and include both part-time and full-time workers. Exceptions to the law include scenarios where the business can show that implementing work break laws would cause undue hardship. Employers who deliberately violate these laws by failing to allow workers their full meal and rest breaks are subject to fines and penalties.
Meal Break Rules in Washington State
Washington State law requires that employees be provided a 30-minute meal period when working more than five consecutive hours in one day. This meal break must be scheduled after two hours but before five hours of work and cannot be combined with other breaks to shorten the length of the meal period. Meal periods must be taken off the clock, unless the employee is continuously relieving other employees of their duties. Intervening 10-minute breaks qualify as days worked for the purposes of establishing IWC-mandated or CFRA/PDL obligations or coverage, but do not count toward hours worked that trigger a meal period entitlement, as meal periods are unpaid. Employers cannot discriminate or retaliate against employees for using meal breaks.
The foregoing provision replaces any or all provisions in any policy or practice of the Employer concerning meal period. Employers may not request, direct, or compel employees to perform work during their paid rest or meal periods. Washington State law provides that employees must work at least two hours for the first and each subsequent meal period of at least 30 minutes.
Rest Break Rules for Washington Workers
A work period of 4 or less consecutive hours requires a ten-minute paid rest period, scheduled at the convenience of the employer. A work period of more than 4, but less than 6 hours, entitles the employee to one ten-minute rest period, but may be adjusted at the employer’s convenience if the employer willfully complies in good faith with the law. An employee who works a schedule of 6 hours or more must be permitted to take two ten-minute paid rest periods so long as the work schedule does not exceed 20 hours in a 90 day period. If exceeding that amount, the employee is entitled to three ten-minute breaks. In the event that the law is not followed, the worker is entitled to upaid rest breaks (or the monetary value of those breaks) in addition to compensation for time spent completing any necessary work responsibilities while on his or her break.
Special Circumstances and Exceptions
For certain scenarios and industries Under Washington’s work-break law, employees who do not work in a "non-repetitive" manner for at least three continuous hours during a particular work period may be exempt from the above-stated break requirements. Washington Administrative Code ("WAC") 296-126-092(1); WAC 296-126-092(4)(b). As noted, this exemption does not apply if the employee is employed by a manufacturing/processing employer, a newspaper employer, or if the employee is trained to perform an affirmative and specific safety function. WAC 296-126-092(5).
The foregoing exemptions present special considerations for employers. For example, if an employee is engaged in a work activity that allows him/her to experience a lapse of time between the completion and commencement of repetitive work (e.g., waiting for loading/unloading work to be completed before the employee can commence the next unit of repetitive work), the employer must make an adjustment to work regularly scheduled work periods so that the employee can enjoy a meal break.
Employers are not required to adjust work periods for employees engaged in non-repetitive work. If a non-repetitive function is interrupted, the break is suspended by the interruption. If an employee resumes his/her work after the interruption for a full 5 minutes, then the employee’s break will be deemed to have ended, and he or she will be able to commence work as usual. But if the employee’s interrupted break is suspended for 20 minutes (or more), the employer must allow the employee the missed rest period, in addition to the employee’s regular work schedule.
Employer Duties and Obligations
In light of the numerous questions we receive, I thought I would start off by providing helpful information on Emilie’s post above. Washington’s laws impose concrete obligations on employers with regard to the provision of employee rest and meal periods. First, the employer must provide a 10-minute paid rest period for every four hours of work. RCW 49.12.400 The only exceptions to this requirement are: (1) when it "is impracticable" to provide such a break, or (2) where the employee works alone and has the flexibility to take a break any time. RCW 49.12.450. Second, employers must provide an unpaid 30-minute meal period, unless the "nature of the work allows" employees to take additional breaks for meals after each four-hour work period without hampering productivity. RCW 49.12.480. For all required break periods, the "employer shall have a schedule showing the regular approximate daily time on duty and time allowed for such eating periods." WAC 296-126-092(2). You don’t actually have to schedule break periods, you need only maintain approximate daily records. For example, if the employee took her morning break at 9:45 a.m. and her afternoon break at 3:15 p.m., it is sufficient if you keep a daily record stating "Morning break 9:45, afternoon break 3:15." If employees work two different shifts during one day, the employer must provide a 30-minute meal period between the end of the first shift and the beginning of the second shift, unless the "nature of the work allows the employees to take an unpaid 30-minute meal period at the end of the first shift and before the start of the second shift without hindering productivity." WAC 296-126-092(2)(c)(ii). What happens when the employer violates these break requirements? The law expressly provides that the employee is entitled to pay for the missed break periods at his or her regular rate of pay, without authorization from the employer. Id. However, in the last few years, we have also seen lawsuits seeking penalties under RCW 49.52 , which provides employees with the right to recover damages for violation of RCW 49.12.050 (rest and meal break requirements). This would apply to "waiting time penalties," which essentially place an employee in the position he or she would have been had the employer timely paid all wages due. The statute provides for an award of twice the unpaid wages for violation of the law "by a willful refusal" of an employer to pay an employee’s wages due him or her. The damages provision of RCW 49.52.050 provides: Failure to pay wages — Civil liability — Damages. Any employer or officer, vice principal or agent of any corporation or firm, or any other individual or agent who is in any manner personally responsible for payment of wages . . . shall be liable to the person to whom such wages are due and unpaid, during any week. . . , in addition to the unpaid wages, for a sum equal to the amount of the wages so withheld and interest. . . , together with attorney’s fees, which may be collected by action or proceeding at law. Any willful violation of the provisions of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor. Willful violation of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor only when committed by an officer, vice president, or agent either in a representative capacity or individually. Most employers have no idea how to defend against these claims. Although the willfulness standard is rather ambiguous, typically a willful violation occurs when the employer has a "known policy or practice" of failing to pay employees their wages when due. This means that the employer has some way of tracking breaks taken and employee schedules. In contrast, if you require employees to be "on the clock" during their breaks, such as by using time clocks or requiring employees to remain in close proximity to personal belongings or machines, then you generally have nothing to worry about. The employee didn’t take a break, so you didn’t fail to pay him or her for one. In short, you only have concern to be concerned if you have a known practice of not paying employees for breaks that you are legally required to provide.
Employee Rights and Remedies
Employees who believe that their Washington State break rights have been violated have several options for recourse. First, an employee can make a demand for an employer to pay the wages denied due to a break violation. A violation of Washington’s break laws is a denial of wages. There are no fines civil penalties or damages for violation of the break laws. So, if an employer owes wages under Washington law, an employee can make a demand for payment. Many employers are just ignorant of their obligations under the law so making a demand for payment is sometimes all it takes to get the matter resolved.
Second, if the demand for payment is unsuccessful, an employee can make a claim with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L/I). L/I does not require an employer to pay penalties or damages for violations of labor and industries rules. Instead, if L/I finds that an employer has engaged in a break law violation it will enter into an order against the employer requiring compliance with the break laws going forward and requiring payment of back wages.
An employee can also hire a private attorney and file a civil lawsuit in Washington State courts. At this time there do not appear to be any attorney fee awards to employees under the Washington break laws. There is also some question whether an employee can recover attorney fees when filing a claim with the Washington State Department of Labor and industries. So, while hiring counsel to take a claim through the courts is an option, even then the employee’s potential recovery will be less than what they would receive in the private sector for bringing the same claim.
One of the real issues in Washington State is the misclassification of workers. There are many employees who are classified as exempt from overtime and who are not being afforded break periods. The misclassification issue becomes critical because an employee who is classified as an exempt employee can only seek recovery for unpaid wages if they have worked overtime and the unpaid wages are as a result of being misclassified.
For example, consider employees who work as outside sales in the area of marketing software. If the employees work forty hours per week, then generally speaking, they will not be entitled to overtime because an outside sale exemption applies. If those same employees work through break periods it can be difficult to go back and calculate the unpaid wages. The best approach with a misclassification is often to bring a claim that the employee was misclassified as exempt and is therefore entitled to overtime.
Federal vs State Break Laws
Unlike federal law, Washington state has strict guidelines dictating the time and duration of work breaks given to employees. Under federal standards, there are no major laws regulating work breaks for employees working in non-driver industries. Instead, employers have the jurisdiction and discretion to assign breaks to their employees. The federal guidelines for lunch breaks, also known as meal breaks, have no regulations on the length or timing of the break. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the responsible body for enforcing rules overseeing work breaks, but no rules have been compiled about the time and frequency for breaks. OSHA does not intervene in any manner other than to enforce existing company policies on work breaks. Basically, the federal government leaves it up to employers to decide breaks for their employees.
On the state level, Washington state provides more protection than federal law for lunch and break periods. Washington state law under WAC 296-126-092 guarantees employees a 10-minute paid rest period for every four hours of work. According to state laws, you are not allowed to waive your rights to this break, nor are you permitted to work during this time, otherwise your employer must pay you for time worked. It also dictates that the time of this break can be taken by the employee whenever they desire. The employers should provide another 30-minute unpaid meal period for every five consecutive hours of work . It also determines that employees must be free to leave the workplace district during their breaks and that the breaks can be accumulated to be used at later times.
As mentioned before, these laws are stricter than those on the federal level, and employers are prohibited from working their employees during their breaks. Federal law does not provide for compensation for this time. If any of these state laws are broken by the employer, then the employee has the right to sue them. In this way, the state laws trump federal laws when it comes to work breaks, being stricter on employers. One thing to know is that federal and state law only grants these breaks to agricultural and non-driver employees. Truckers, bus drivers and other drivers are exempt from these state laws. Federal law does not contain any exemptions, so all drivers are entitled to breaks as well.
An important thing to note is that state laws dictate that the employer must be able to provide the breaks for employees if requested. If they cannot provide the break, then they can switch the paid break into an unpaid break as long as the employee agrees, subject to their right to end the work day one hour early without compensation. Because of these laws, employers seek to create schedules and arrangements so that employees do not have to work during their break times, so employees should voice their desire for a break and try to take it.