Break and Lunch Laws in North Carolina

The Fair Labor Standards Act does not include any stipulations regarding lunches and breaks at the federal level, leaving state governments the option to impose requirements for giving employees breaks from work. The North Carolina Wage and Hour Act outlines all of the requirements related to wages and breaks in the state. Under the law, break and lunch requirements vary based on employees' ages.

The North Carolina Wage and Hour Act imposes specific rules for breaks and lunches for most employees who are under the age of 16. All private, nonprofit organizations and companies with gross receipts of $500,000 or more per year must adhere to the rules. Under the law, workers under the age of 16 must be given a break of at least 30 minutes after working for five hours. The break can be unpaid.

In North Carolina, employers of any size or type are not required to give breaks to employees who are 16 years of age or older, even if they are minor, dependent students. This includes both meal breaks and rest breaks. If they do allow a break and it lasts for at least 30 minutes, North Carolina employers do not have to pay employees for their breaks and lunches. The law allows employers to require employees to remain on the premises for their breaks.

North Carolina employees must receive pay for any breaks that are less than 30 minutes in duration. In addition, for a break of 30 minutes or more to be unpaid, employees must be completely removed from their work duties. For instance, if an employee is on call to assist a customer who enters a building, his lunch break cannot be unpaid, even if the break lasts for 30 minutes or more. Labor laws in North Carolina do not require employers to give smoke breaks or provide a place for smokers to congregate for breaks; however, the law does prohibit discrimination against smokers. Due to this feature, employers cannot prohibit smokers from taking the same number of paid breaks as nonsmoking employees.

Employees who have not received fair payment for their breaks and lunches can file complaints with the North Carolina Department of Labor. To qualify for complaint filing, employees must have lost more than $50 due to the unfair practice. If the loss amounted to $50 or less, employees must seek compensation on their own through small claims court. In addition, employees must wait for 10 days after receiving the paychecks with the unfair wages prior to filing their complaints. The NCDOL accepts complaints through a telephone hotline, which operates from Monday through Friday.

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