On Sept. 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2026-11 addressing whether required travel to and from an employer’s designated break area affects whether an unpaid meal period qualifies as a bona fide meal break under the FLSA.
Background – The FLSA does not require employers to provide meal periods. However, if an employer chooses to provide meal breaks, the employer must comply with the FLSA’s meal period requirements. In general, bona fide meal periods are not compensable if they are 30 minutes or longer and the employee is completely relieved from duty and not interrupted by work, even for a short time. For example, if an office employee remains at their desk while eating lunch and regularly answers the telephone or responds to customers, they should be paid for this time because the employee has not been completely relieved from duty. Mandatory travel time to reach a break area does not automatically convert the entire period into paid time. However, if the meal periods are of sufficient duration and are significantly reduced by travel time, frequent or lengthy interruptions, or restrictions, then the meal period or portions of it may be compensable.
Key Highlights – The employee at issue was a security aide at a detention facility where employees were prohibited from bringing food beyond the entry building. Employees received a 60-minute meal period. The employer required employees to walk 6 to 14 minutes round-trip to a designated break area to eat, resulting in 46 to 54 minutes at the designated break area. The DOL confirmed that the meal period provided by the employer is bona fide under the FLSA because it is an uninterrupted period during which employees are relieved from their duties, and the break time is long enough to allow employees to use the break for the purpose of eating, even accounting for the required travel time. According to the DOL, employees had more than 30 minutes to eat after arriving at the break area, which is longer than the 30 minutes that is ordinarily sufficient to qualify as a bona fide meal period. The DOL also noted that, under the predominant benefit test, the travel time to the break area was not compensable because employees needed only a few minutes to reach it. The longer meal period reinforces the conclusion that the comparatively brief travel time did not prevent employees from receiving ample time to eat a regular meal and use the remainder of the break for personal purposes.
Employer Takeaway: A meal period can remain unpaid even when employees must travel to a designated break area, provided they are fully relieved from duty and have sufficient time to eat and use the remainder of the break for personal purposes. Employers should consider the total circumstances, including the length of the meal period and the amount of time consumed by required travel.