Breaks

           Vermont state law orders that a “reasonable opportunity” to eat a meal must be provided to all employees. The “reasonable opportunity” may be unpaid if it is at least 30 minutes. The 30-minute break is only considered unpaid, if the employee is completely discharged of his or her job duties. If the worker must do any work-related duties during the meal break, it would not qualify as an unpaid meal break.

Vermont law does not mention any other specific rest break. If employers do choose to offer different breaks, they must be paid if they are under 30 minutes.

Vermont residents must be informed about some interesting work hours found in federal law regarding sleep time, waiting time, and travel time.

Waiting time needs to be determined paid or unpaid depending on the circumstances. If an employee can do something of personal choice while waiting for another task at the job-site to be finished or even while waiting at the workplace for his or her services to be called upon, that is considered work-time. However, if an employee is expecting to be called upon, but has a large amount of freedom to do what he or she wishes while on call (plenty of time to get to call), that would not be considered paid work.

If an issue arises in jobs where employees are required to take very long shifts, sleep time is appropriate as well. An employee enforced to be on duty less than 24 hours is still considered “working” even if he or she can sleep during those hours when it is not busy. If an employee is on duty more than 24 hours, a sleeping period of no more than eight hours may be deducted from work hours. However, this can only be done if sleeping quarters are provided and at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep may be achieved by the employee.

Lastly, we can consider travel time. Time spent in an employee’s normal days from commuting to and from work is not considered paid work time. However, if an employee is traveling during a day’s work, it will be considered paid work time.