Legal Question in Employment Law in District of Columbia

Is it legal for employers to require an unpaid lunch break?

I am an exempt employee for a company located in the District of Columbia. For the first 8 months that I was working for the company, I was allowed to work an 8 hour day. (7.5 work shift plus a 30-minute paid break). However, I was informed a month ago, that ''company policy'' requires me to stay an additonal 30 minutes for an unpaid lunch break. Since the break is unpaid, I rather leave work instead of taking this additional break which extends my work day to 8.5 hours. This mandatory unpaid lunch break for exempt employees was not included in the company's employees handbook. I would like to know if this is legal.


Asked on 6/29/09, 4:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Is it legal for employers to require an unpaid lunch break?

Unless the company's handbook amounted to an enforceable contract between you and the company which would disallow this particular practice(not likely), I'd say you're probably without recourse(except to look for other work).

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Answered on 6/29/09, 11:28 pm


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