Q. Can an employer make its employees clock out for breaks of 5 minutes?
A. No, an employer may not require employees to clock out for breaks of five (5) minutes and be unpaid for that time because this practice violates the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers can have employees clock in and out to track the breaks, but still has to compensate the employees for this.
According to the US Department of Labor, “the FLSA does not require employees be given meal or rest breaks. However, if employers do offer short breaks (lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers these short breaks time for which employees must be compensated. Bona fide meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than short rest or snack breaks and, thus, are generally not time for which employees must be compensated.” At the same time, for documentation purposes, an employer may require employees to track (using a device or timesheet) the times employees started and ended their rest breaks.
Note: The State of California does require breaks after every 2 hours of work and atleast 1/2 hour lunch before the 6th hour of work. California
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