You Are Entitled to Your Breaks

Don't be intimidated by the mumbo jumbo that they give you in office meetings about your break time. Both federal and state laws have made sure that you can receive your breaks. You don't have to pack up your meal and take it on outings with the clients. Whether it is the clients' workplace or simply one of their outings into the community, you are entitled to your meal break no later than five hours into your shilft. This must be an uninterrupted half hour, and you can choose to take it away from the respobsibilities of your work. The company MUST provide you with a relief staff for your meal period. They cannot force you to take your meal break on the job site.



The business may require workers to stay on the work site during:

* Their paid rest periods.
* Their meal period IF the business pays the worker during that meal period.
* Their meal period without paying them IF the workers are completely relieved from duty for the entire meal period and will never be called back to work during the meal period.

You can get answers to frequently asked questions about rest periods and meal break at this link: http://lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/Wages/HoursBreaks/Breaks/default.asp.

HA