Auto-Deduction for Employee Meal Breaks Can Work for Hospitals, but be Careful!

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all employees must be paid overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The law also requires employers to keep accurate records of all time worked. Many employers, though—particularly hospitals—often automatically deduct 30 minutes from their employees’ 8.5 workdays assuming that all employees take their regular 30 minute meal breaks. But what happens when an employee is interrupted during the employee’s meal break to answer a call, attend to a code or other emergency, and the like? This scenario has been fodder for lawsuits against hospitals, most recently in an Ohio federal court–Myers v. Marietta Memorial Hospital, No. 2:15-CV-2956 (S.D. Ohio March 27, 2019). Read More ›