policy regarding meal breaks in ny state

meal breaks

• New York requires employers to provide a meal break. The meal period law covers all categories of employees, including, for example, management as well as blue collar workers. 

• All employees covered by the labor laws are entitled to a break of at least 30 minutes during the noonday meal period (i.e., between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.). This rule applies also to employees who work a shift of more than six hours, which extends through the noonday meal period.

•  Employees who work a shift beginning before 11:00 a.m. and continuing later than 7:00 p.m. must be permitted another meal break, of at least 20 minutes, between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. 

• Every person employed for a shift of more than six hours, starting between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., must be allowed at least a 45-minute meal period, taken midway between the beginning and end of the shift. 

• New York does not preclude waiver of meal break requirements. To be valid, a negotiated waiver of a meal break must be made: 

(1) “freely, knowingly and openly;” 

(2) without hint of duress or coercion; 

(3) in exchange for a benefit to the employee; and 

(4) without the involvement of bad faith. Rest Periods. New York has not enacted any generally applicable rest period requirements.