Under Massachusetts law, employers are obligated to allow workers a 30-minute unpaid meal break after every six hours worked. Employees must be relieved of all duties and allowed to leave the work site during the meal break. An employee who is required to perform work the meal break must be paid for the time worked.
If you are required to be available and/or perform work during your unpaid meal break, your employer is required to pay you for the work time. Employers with a practice of automatically deducting pay for meal breaks even if employees are not taking the full break are at risk of class action suits for violation of Massachusetts wage and hour laws. The penalties for such violations are steep including triple damages and attorney’s fees.
