Arkansas Break Laws in a Nutshell
Arkansas state law does not require employers to provide employees with a workplace break. However, there are exceptions for public employees and minors under state law, as the federal Department of Labor has noted. State regulations also permit employees to use rest breaks for nursing children in the workplace. Additionally, the Arkansas Department of Labor enforces child labor laws, which restrict workers under age 16 to no more than 4 hours of work per day, which may help to inform break and meal policies for younger workers.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), however , does require private employers to provide employees with breaks ranging from 15 to 30 minutes for every 3-6 hours worked. If an employer chooses to provide a rest period or a meal period during which the employee is relieved of work, these breaks must be paid, according to DOL’s Wage and Hour Division.
State law differs from federal law by only requiring breaks for public employees. Arkansas Code §11-4-210 gives public employees a 10 minute rest period for every 2 hours worked, but this is not applicable to public safety employees. Similarly, the law requires public employers to provide security guards with meal periods, although they may be unpaid since allowing the guard to leave the premises will not impact essential operations for most agencies.
Breaks Requirements for Minors
Under Arkansas law, minors under the age of 16 must receive a ten minute paid rest period upon working more than four consecutive hours. The ten minute break can be scheduled at the discretion of the employer and should occur close to the halfway point of the shift.
A 30-minute unpaid meal period must be given to all nonexempt employees (i.e. employees paid on an hourly basis) when they work more than five consecutive hours in Arkansas. Employers are free to establish the time of day that employees receive meal breaks. The meal breaks may not, however, be scheduled during work time, unless there are no other employees to relieve the employee from duties.
Similar to most state laws, there is no federal law requiring employers to provide regular breaks for their employees. Therefore, while it is beneficial to offer "rest breaks" to employees who work more than four hours, no law requires Arkansas employers to offer rest breaks.
When Adults are Entitled to Breaks
Adult employees already get more break rights than is required by Arkansas law. Ark. Admin. Code 010.14.3-2 provides: Breaks . . . [f]or adult employees who are 18 years or older, other than employees in the agriculture industry, employers are encouraged to provide coffee breaks, rest periods and similar short breaks as may be possible. These breaks should be counted as hours worked and paid at the regular rate of pay . . . unless such time is de minimis.
If a company chooses to do so, Arkansas regulations suggest that employees be provided with a 15-minute paid break for every 4 hours of work, plus a 30-minute unpaid meal period. An employee who works 12 hours may be entitled to an additional 15-minute break.
As always, there may be exceptions in specific instances, depending on the individual circumstances.
Rest and Meal Periods for Workers
Meal breaks and rest periods are generally not mandatory in the state of Arkansas. However, I want to be clear that this is a complicated area of law, and you must be familiar with the law with regard to your specific employees.
Generally speaking, meal breaks are completely discretionary. That is to say, you do not have to provide meal breaks to your employees. Meal breaks need not be provided for employees who are free to leave the premises during their working hours. This means that for employees who are not required to actually work during their meal breaks, the employer can decide whether or not to give them a meal break and what the terms of that break will be.
If the employer does provide a meal break, then the Department of Labor’s current position (and Title VII’s position) on meal periods is that a meal period is time during which the employee is relieved of all work responsibilities. A bona fide meal period, normally at least 30 minutes, need not be counted as hours worked. Thus, an employee who is completely relieved of their work duties need not be paid for the time spent eating, provided the meal break lasts 30 minutes or longer.
Although the Department of Labor does not require that employees be provided meal periods, if an employer provides meal periods that are less than 30 minutes or does not provide complete relief from work duties during the meal period, the employer may have to pay employees for the time spent "eating."
Rest periods and coffee breaks, as distinguished from lunch (meal) breaks, are not required under federal law but are permissible. The Fair Labor Standards Act regulations require that employers who choose to provide such breaks must generally compensate employees for the time spent in rest and coffee breaks, regardless of the duration of the break.
However (to put it lightly), it is absolutely still worth emphasizing that rest periods are not required under federal law. If you choose not to give them, you don’t have to. If you do, make sure you know what the law says about the breaks you do provide and intricacies in the law with regard to employees who work (or don’t work) during breaks.
As a practical matter, I generally discourage employers from providing any type of break other than a bona fide meal break. This is due to the fact that it’s very easy for an employee to sue your company when there is a rest period (and/or no rest period) in your policies. I also discourage employers from allowing any employee to work through any rest periods, regardless of whether the employee has chosen to complete work during the rest periods. The simple reason is that this is an area ripe for a lawsuit.
That said, it is also worth emphasizing again that meal breaks are not required under the law. You do not have to give employees meal breaks. However, it is not a "cruel and unusual punishment" to require hard work without a meal or rest period, so maybe you should strongly consider giving people food.
Arkansas Employers Obligations Regarding Breaks
For employers with each of the mentioned businesses, there are certain obligations that they have to comply with Arkansas break law. Employers must give a 10-minute break for every regular hour worked in each work period to employees that have had continuous employment of more than six months. Individuals employed in Arkansas for six months or less do not have to be granted these breaks. However, though it is not legally required, employers may allow these individuals to take their breaks as well. If these employees are allowed time off, they must be shown that the time off is implied consent to the break requirements.
Employers have the option to allow employees to leave the premises during their breaks. However, employee time does not cease to accrue if the employees do leave the premises, i.e. go to lunch in a café across the street. Any of the leave that the employee takes is the responsibility of the employer.
If an employee works more than 11 hours a day, the employer must give the employee a 20-minute break for lunch for every hour over the 11-hour mark.
Employers must do their best to give their employees their breaks as close as possible to the end of their fifth hour of work . Employers have the discretion to allow breaks to be taken freely, provided that the employer ensures that its employees take their breaks. If the employer makes it known that it wants its employees to take their breaks, it must make it known. However, if an employee attempts to get around the breaks by altering his or her schedule with supervisors to lessen the breaks, the employer is not obligated to give the employee the requirement breaks.
A violation of the Arkansas break law is considered a Class A misdemeanor punishable by fine. At the first offense, employers are given a warning. For a second offense, employers face a fine of up to $25 for each employee affected. After that, employers will be fined up to $25 for each employee for every week after the first offense until the employer comes into compliance.
There is a 90-day period where violations are looked at to see if the employer has made an effort to fix the problem. After the 90-day period and the employer has not complied, the 90-day period restarts. This process continues until the employer makes a change and brings its break policies in compliance with the Arkansas break law.
Common Inquiries Regarding Break Laws in Arkansas
Q: Do Arkansas employers have to provide meal or rest breaks to employees?
A: No, Arkansas law has no hard and fast requirements on employers to provide employees with meal or rest breaks. But, as discussed above, Arkansas law does require that certain employees be paid for breaks that are provided by the employer.
Q: I am a salaried employee. Does that change whether I am entitled to a paid break?
A: No, it does not. A non-exempt employee’s entitlement to a paid break is independent of whether the employee is paid on a salaried basis or hourly basis. An employee’s exempt or non-exempt status depends on how the employee is treated under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), not Arkansas law.
Q: Are meal breaks different than regular breaks?
A: Yes. Unlike regular work breaks, which may entitle an employee to be paid for the duration of the break, a bona-fide meal period need not be paid. However, as discussed above, if an employer does provide a meal period and employees are required to remain on duty during any portion of the meal period, the workers must "be compensated for the hours worked during the meal period."
Q: What happens if there is a violation of the break laws?
A: If an employer violates the break laws, it would be required to pay the employees for the time they should have been paid. The Department of Labor and the Arkansas Division of Labor have the authority to enforce the break laws in Arkansas. Additionally, as is true with most wage and hour violations, employees have the right to bring a proposed class action on behalf of themselves and similarly situated employees against their employer on the same claims or to bring a suit on behalf of themselves to recover any unpaid wages.
Tracking Productivity Adequately During Break Laws
While the effects of mandated work breaks may not be immediately evident, research does show that there are significant benefits for employers and employees alike when organizations comply with break laws. For example, a study published in the Harvard Business Review found that when an American financial technology firm increased the mandated break time for its employees from two to three 20-minute breaks per day, productivity increased by 10.8%. Employees cited feeling less burnt out and more creative and focused. These effects were further found to impact retention , with 9% lower turnover after the changes were implemented.
Other studies have also shown that performance may improve by as much as 10% when employees are given regular lunch breaks in addition to two 15-minute breaks. The positive effects of mandated break periods can be further enhanced by employers encouraging employees to use breaks to engage in healthy activities such as meditation, exercise and eating healthy foods.
On the other hand, failure to abide by Arkansas’s mandated break laws has shown to have negative consequences for both employees and businesses. Approximately 9% of all labor law cases filed each year are related to break violations. These kinds of lawsuits can be expensive to defend against and difficult to win, causing many businesses to settle these claims out of court.