The United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) recently issued two Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) opinion letters that are worth a look for employers addressing tip pool or lunch break questions.
Meal Periods Shortened by Travel Time to Break Areas May Still Be Non-Compensable, But Minutes Matter
In FLSA2026-11, the DOL addressed whether an uncompensated 60-minute lunch break, during which employees spend up to 14 minutes just getting to the designated break area, constitutes a “bona fide” meal period. The workplace in question was a detention facility that prohibited bringing food beyond a certain facility; after walking time to get there, employees had between 46 and 54 minutes for the meal break. The DOL found that this remaining period was still “bona fide,” because employees were relieved from duties long enough to use the break to eat a meal. (Indeed, the DOL noted the travel-free break exceeded the 30 minutes typically recognized as a bona fide meal period.)
That said, the DOL recognized that “if a meal period of facially sufficient duration is significantly reduced through travel time, frequent or lengthy interruptions, or restrictions, then that meal period or portions of it may be compensable.” For example, the DOL contrasted the ~45-minute break situation raised in the opinion letter to a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals case involving a 30-minute break that was effectively reduced to 18 minutes after 12 minutes of travel time, which...
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