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- Category: Meal and Rest Breaks
Rest breaks are paid. Meal breaks are governed by a different rule, and that rule is not simply that they are unpaid.
Getting this right matters more than it sounds, because the answer determines whether an unpaid half hour on your timesheet was lawful or was wages you are owed.
You can reach out to us by calling (844) FERRARO.
The Two Rules That Decide It
Almost every break pay question in Minnesota resolves through one of two rules, both in Minn. R. 5200.0120.
The 20-minute rule. Subpart 1 provides that the minimum wage must be paid for all hours worked, and that rest periods of less than 20 minutes may not be deducted from total hours worked. Any break shorter than 20 minutes is compensable, whatever it is called.
The completely relieved rule. Subpart 4 provides that bona fide meal periods are not hours worked, that bona fide meal periods do not include rest periods such as coffee breaks or time for snacks, and that the employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. It adds that the employee is not completely relieved from duty if required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating.
DLI states the combined position in its guidance: breaks of less than 20 minutes must be paid, other breaks can be unpaid provided that the employee is completely relieved of work duties, and if the employee is not completely relieved of work duties, the break must be paid.
Rest Breaks Are Paid
The 15-minute rest break required by Minn. Stat. § 177.253 is paid time, though the section itself does not say so. It is paid because it falls under 20 minutes and therefore cannot be deducted from hours worked.
An employer that provides the break and then subtracts the time from the paycheck has not committed a break violation. It has failed to pay wages for hours worked, which is a different claim reaching a different remedy.
“Payment Not Required” Is Not the Same as “Unpaid”
Minn. Stat. § 177.254, subd. 2 is titled “Payment not required” and provides that except for subdivision 4, nothing in the section requires the employer to pay the employee during the meal break.
Read carefully, that is a statement about what the section requires rather than a declaration that meal breaks are unpaid. The section does not compel payment. Whether a particular meal break must nevertheless be paid is answered by the hours worked rule, and a meal period only sits outside hours worked where the employee is completely relieved of duty.
So a 30-minute meal break may be unpaid when it is a real one. A 30-minute period during which you answer the phone, watch the floor, monitor a radio or stay responsible for a machine is hours worked, and it must be paid. Employer-side summaries of this law routinely describe the entitlement as “an unpaid 30-minute meal break,” which states the ordinary case as though it were the rule.
What “Completely Relieved of Duties” Means
The phrase is doing the heavy lifting, and the rule defines it more strictly than most people expect.
You are not completely relieved if you are required to perform any duties while eating, and the rule says this applies to inactive duties as well as active ones. Being available is a duty. Waiting for something to happen so that you can respond to it is a duty.
Two further points from the same rule are worth knowing. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks, so a short pause is not converted into an unpaid meal period by calling it lunch. And it is not necessary that you be permitted to leave the premises, provided you are otherwise completely freed from duties. Location is not the test. Whether you are freed from duties is.
Common Situations
| Situation | Paid? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 15-minute rest break | Yes | Under 20 minutes, so it may not be deducted from hours worked |
| 30-minute meal break, no duties, free to eat | Payment not required | A bona fide meal period is not hours worked |
| 30-minute meal break, required to remain on site, no duties | Payment not required | Remaining on the premises does not by itself defeat the exclusion |
| 30-minute meal break at your desk, covering the phone | Yes | Performing duties while eating means you are not completely relieved |
| 15-minute “lunch” | Yes | Under 20 minutes, and a short pause is not a bona fide meal period |
| Meal break repeatedly interrupted to handle work | Yes | Duties performed during the period, whether active or inactive |
| 30 minutes deducted automatically on a shift you worked straight through | Yes | Time worked is hours worked whatever the timekeeping system recorded |
Source: Minn. R. 5200.0120, subps. 1 and 4, and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry work breaks and rest periods guidance. Verified September 5, 2026.
The last row is common enough to deserve its own mention. An automatic deduction is lawful only if the meal period it removed was a bona fide break, and the employer’s own timekeeping setting is what documents the deduction when it was not.
What Being Exempt Changes
Two different questions get confused here, and the distinction is worth being careful about.
Break entitlement depends on whether you are an employee as defined in Minn. Stat. § 177.23, subd. 7. DLI states that exceptions to that definition include individuals employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity, certain agricultural workers and certain seasonal day camp staff, and that employers are not required to allow breaks for workers who fall under those exceptions.
That is a narrower question than whether you are exempt from overtime. Some MFLSA exemptions run only to overtime and leave break rights in place. And an exemption is not established by how you are paid or what your title says. DLI emphasizes that paying a salary or using a title such as supervisor does not make a worker exempt without meeting the duties tests, which sit in Minnesota Rules 5200.0180 through 5200.0210 alongside a guaranteed and predetermined weekly salary requirement.
Salaried does not mean exempt, and exempt from overtime does not automatically mean outside the break requirements. The exemption tests require both a salary basis and specific duties, and if your status is genuinely uncertain it is worth resolving before concluding you have no break rights.
If Your Break Was Unpaid and Should Not Have Been
Unpaid time that was actually worked is unpaid wages. Under Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 8 an employer who pays an employee less than the wages owed is liable for the full amount plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, and under subdivision 10 a court shall order a violating employer to pay the employee’s reasonable costs and attorney fees.
Where the break was also never allowed in the first place, the break sections carry their own remedy. Whether a given set of facts supports one claim or both is a question to work through with an attorney rather than to assume.
The evidence tends to be the same in either case: timekeeping records, the written break policy, staffing levels and what supervisors actually said. Our overview of meal and rest breaks in Minnesota sets out both statutes. A break claim can go to DLI or directly to district court, and the measure is the break time at your regular rate plus an equal amount as liquidated damages. In the capital city, denial of legal breaks is one of the practices the city identifies as wage theft, and our page on St. Paul unpaid wages covers local enforcement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are 15-minute breaks paid in Minnesota?
Yes. Minn. R. 5200.0120, subp. 1 provides that rest periods of less than 20 minutes may not be deducted from total hours worked, and DLI states that breaks of less than 20 minutes must be paid. This is true even though § 177.253 itself does not use the word paid.
Is my 30-minute lunch break unpaid?
It may be. Section 177.254, subd. 2 provides that the section does not require payment during the meal break, subject to the remedy provision. The break only sits outside hours worked where you are completely relieved of duty for the purpose of eating. If you are performing duties, including inactive ones such as remaining responsible for coverage, the time is compensable.
What if my break gets interrupted every day?
Repeated interruptions to handle work are duties performed during the period, which means you are not completely relieved and the time should be paid. A pattern of interruption is also easier to establish than a single instance, since it usually shows up in call logs, messages, task records or the accounts of coworkers on the same shift.
Does being salaried mean I do not get breaks?
No. Salary is one component of some exemptions and is not itself an exemption. DLI states that paying a salary or using a certain job title does not make a worker exempt without meeting the duties tests. Break coverage depends on the definition of employee in § 177.23, subd. 7, which is a narrower question than overtime exemption.
My employer paid me for the break but never let me take it. Is that a violation?
Payment does not by itself satisfy a statute that requires the employer to allow the break. The break sections create a remedy for breaks that were not allowed, measured by the break time at the regular rate plus an equal additional amount. How already-paid rest break time is treated in that calculation is a question worth raising with an attorney, since the statutory text does not resolve it directly.
This article provides general information about Minnesota law and is not legal advice. Whether particular break time is compensable depends on facts specific to your duties and your workplace. All legal content on this page requires review by a licensed attorney before you rely on it.
