Breaks and meal periods - Oregon

Breaks

Federal law does not require that employers provide rest periods or coffee/snack breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks, usually lasting between five to 20 minutes, the breaks must be considered work time and employees are paid for the time.

Oregon requires that employees have to get a break of at least ten minutes for every consecutive four-hour work period (or major part thereof). The rest period cannot be deducted from an employee's wages. This rest period must be in addition to the meal period provided.

The provisions regarding appropriate rest periods do not apply when all of the following conditions are met:

(a) The employee is 18 years of age or older; and

(b) The employee works less than five hours in any period of 16 continuous hours; and

(c) The employee is working alone; and

(d) The employee is employed in a retail or service establishment, i.e., a place where goods and services are sold to the general public, not for resale; and

(e) The employee is allowed to leave the employee's assigned station when the employee must use the restroom facilities.

Breaks to express breastmilk

Under Oregon law, the adult employee whose work period is eight hours long must receive at least a 30-minute unpaid meal period and two paid ten-minute rest breaks.

An employer who employs 25 or more employees must provide reasonable rest periods to accommodate an employee who needs to express milk for her child 18 months of age or younger. A reasonable rest period is defined as no less than 30 minutes during each four-hour work period or major part of a 4-hour work period and is to be taken by the employee approximately in the middle of the work period.

If feasible, the employee will take the rest periods to express milk at the same time as the rest periods or meal periods that are otherwise provided to the employee. If not feasible, the employee is entitled to take an unpaid rest period of up to 30 additional minutes during each 4-hour period to express milk. Employers are not required to pay the employee for the full 30-minute rest period. You must treat the rest periods for expressing milk as paid rest periods, up to the amount of time the employer is required to provide paid rest periods. In other words, you must pay the employee for the usual 10-minute rest period. The other 20 minutes may be unpaid.

If the employee takes unpaid rest periods, the employer may allow the employee to work before or after her normal shift to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid portion of the rest periods. If the employee does not work to make up this time, the employer is not required to compensate the employee for the time.

An employer must make a reasonable effort to provide the employee with a private location within close proximity to the employee’s work area to express milk. A “private location” is a place, other than a public restroom or toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee’s work station, where the employee may express milk concealed from view and without intrusion by other employees or the public. This could include the employee’s work area; a room connected to a public restroom (such as a lounge); a child care facility; an empty or unused office, conference room, or storage space.

An employer must allow the employee to bring a cooler or other insulated container to store the expressed milk. If the employer allows employees to use a refrigerator for personal use, the employee must be permitted (but may not be required by the employer) to use the available refrigeration to store the milk.

Meal periods

Federal law does not require that employers provide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods, which typically last between 30 and 60 minutes, serve a different purpose than a break. During meal periods, the employee must be completely relieved from duty. Bona fide meal periods are not considered work time and are not compensable. If an employee is not totally relieved of job duties during the time he or she is eating a meal, then the employee must be paid for that time.

Oregon employees will receive a 30-minute meal period for if they work at least six hours. The employees must be completely relieved of all duties during this time. If the work period is seven hours or less, the meal period should be taken between the second and fifth hours worked. If the work period is more than seven hours, the meal period should be taken between the third and sixth hour worked. If an employee must work continue to work or be on call, the meal period cannot be deducted for time worked.

If an employer agrees, an employee may waive a meal period if all of the following conditions are met:

(a) The employee is employed to serve food or beverages, receives tips, and reports the tips to the employee's employer;

(b) The employee is at least 18 years of age;

(c) The employee voluntarily requests to waive the employee's meal periods no less than seven calendar days after beginning employment;

(d) The employee's request to waive the employee's meal periods is in writing and is signed and dated by both the employee and employer;

(e) The employer retains and keeps available to the commissioner a copy of the employee's request to waive the employee's meal period during the duration of the employee's employment and for no less than six months after the termination date of the employee;

(f) The employee is provided with a reasonable opportunity to consume food during any workshift of six hours or more while continuing to work;

(g) The employee is paid for any and all meal periods in which the employee is not completely relieved of all duty;

(h) The employee is not required to work longer than eight hours without receiving a 30-minute meal period in which the employee is relieved of all duty;

(i) The employer makes and keeps available to the commissioner accurate records of hours worked by each employee which clearly indicate whether or not the employee has received a meal period; and

(j) The employer posts a notice provided by the commissioner regarding rest and meal periods in a conspicuous and accessible place where all employees can view it. Notices that comply with this rule are available upon request from the Bureau of Labor and Industries.

The written request to waive the employee's meal periods must be made using a form provided by the commissioner in the language used by the employer to communicate with the employee. Written request forms that comply with this rule are available upon request from the Bureau of Labor and Industries. Either the employer or employee may revoke the agreement for the employee to waive the employee's meal periods by providing at least seven (7) calendar days written notice to the other.

An employee who has requested to waive meal periods may request to take a meal period without revoking the agreement to waive such periods. Such requests must be submitted in writing to the employee's employer no less than 24 hours prior to the meal period(s) requested.

An employer may not coerce an employee into waiving a meal period.

Oregon employers must go beyond simply providing nonexempt employees with a lunch period, according to a November 2019 decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals. In Maza v. Waterford Perations, LLC., the Court ruled against the employer and surmised that they must make employees who work six or more hours take a workfree, uninterrupted, continuous 30-minute lunch period, or risk having to pay employees for that time. The employer arguing that mandatory lunch language was in the handbook (among other points) was not enough to save them in this case.

Breaks and meals for minors

Minors under the age of 18 are not subject to these rest and meal period rules. Rest and meal period requirements for minors under 18 years of age are provided in OAR 839-021-0072.