Kansas employers and employees alike may be wondering if there are any state laws mandating lunches or other breaks. In fact, my research shows that there are no state laws on the books in Kansas governing this area.
While Kansas law does not have any lunch and break provisions, residents of the state are covered by several applicable federal rules in this area. It might surprise you to know that federal law does not mandate any specific lunch or break periods. It does, however, give guidance as to whether or not an employee should be paid during these times. Short breaks, those that are usually 20 minutes or less, should be counted as hours worked. Genuine “meal periods” are usually 30 minutes or more, and do not need to be compensated as work time. For this to be the case, however, the worker must be completely relieved of his or her duties during the meal break. If the employee is still required to do any duties (even minor duties such as monitoring a door), it can’t be considered a meal or lunch period and must be paid.
Federal law also contains regulations related to employee pay during times of waiting, sleeping and traveling. Whether or not waiting time needs to be considered paid work hours depends on the situation. If an employee is allowed to read a book or do something else of his or her desire while waiting for another task to be finished or while waiting at the workplace for his or her services to be called upon, it is generally considered work time. On the other hand, if an employee is waiting to be called upon, but has great freedom to do what he or she wishes while on call (and has plenty of time to respond to the call), it is not generally considered paid work time.
When it comes to travel time, the general guideline to follow is that time spent in the normal day’s commute to and from work is not considered paid working time. However, if an employee is traveling in the course of a days work, it must be considered paid work time.
Another issue I find sometimes comes up is the issue of sleeping time. An employee required to be on duty less than 24 hours is considered to be “working” even if he or she is permitted to sleep during some of those hours when not busy. If an employee is on duty more than 24 hours, a sleeping period of no more than eight hours may be subtracted from work hours. However, this can only be done if sleeping quarters are provided and at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep may be achieved by the employee.
A complete presentation of regulations relating to lunch and break law may be found on the Kansas All in One Labor Law Poster. This poster also features information on all other state and federal labor law requirements.
