DOL Clarifies When Travel During Meal Periods Is Not Compensable

Short travel time during a 60-minute meal period is not compensable when a nonexempt worker is relieved from duties and the period is long enough for the employee to eat, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) found in a recent opinion letter (FLSA2026-11). 

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to provide rest breaks or meal periods, the DOL noted. But if meal breaks are provided and interrupted by lengthy travel time or duties, meal breaks or portions of them may become compensable. Frequent interruptions can also make meal periods compensable, the department added.

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Background

A security therapy aide at a detention facility, wrote the DOL about compensable travel time under the FLSA during meal periods, as well as a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) issue. 

The aide claimed that employees were entitled to a full, unpaid 60-minute meal period each workday, but added that employees were prohibited from bringing food beyond the building entry. Employees walk three to seven minutes to and from a designated break area to eat their lunch, and the aide argued that travel time to and from the break area should be compensable. 

DOL’s Analysis

Although the aide claimed the entitlement to an unpaid 60-minute meal period under a CBA, the DOL analyzed only whether the travel time was compensable under the FLSA and did not answer the CBA issue in its opinion letter.

The central issue in most meal break cases under the FLSA is whether the employees were relieved from their duties or required to work during their meal period, the DOL said. If employees are not relieved from duties during the meal period, the time is ordinarily considered hours worked and compensable. 

The DOL looks to the duration of a meal period to determine if it is bona fide and compensable. Typically, 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period, the department noted. However, “meal periods of less than 30 minutes may be considered bona fide and not compensable under certain circumstances — for instance, if employees have sufficient time to eat a regular meal or there is an agreement between employer and employee for a period of less than 30 minutes for a meal period,” the DOL said.

The detention facility does not require aides to work while they are eating, and employees apparently are relieved of work duties during that time, the DOL noted. The 46 to 54 minutes employees have in the break area “is much longer than the 30 minutes that is ordinarily sufficient for a bona fide meal period,” the department added.

The aide said travel time to and from the break area should be compensable because employees are not fully relieved of their duties for the purpose of eating a meal until they can access their food in the designated break area. The DOL rejected the “complete relief from duty” standard, saying most courts did as well, and evaluated the compensability of meal periods under the “predominant benefit” test.

“When employees need just a few minutes of travel time to access a break room or other location where they can eat their meal, that time is generally not compensable,” the DOL stated.

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Takeaway

Claire Deason, an attorney with Littler in Minneapolis, drew attention to the DOL’s assertion that there are occasions when a meal break of less than 30 minutes can be unpaid. 

“Employers have long grappled with the nine-minute gap in the FLSA break time regulations,” she said, elaborating that a 30-minute break is sufficient to make a meal unpaid, whereas breaks of 20 minutes or less must be paid.

Administering unpaid breaks for workers traveling to lunchrooms can be challenging in practice, she added.

“This guidance reinforces both that the DOL agrees there are occasions where a meal break of less than 30 minutes can be unpaid, and also rejects the notion that an employee must be completely relieved of duty for the entire duration of a break period in order for that period to be a bona fide meal break,” Deason said.