The meal period at work

It is the right set by Article 11 of Act No. 379 of 15 May 1948, the "Act to Establish the Working Day in Puerto Rico", developed by DTRH Regulation No. 9017 of 4 April 2018. The Regulation defines it as the time in which an employee interrupts the services rendered to their employer in order to use that time freely without having to give even minimal attention to the duties of their post.

It applies to non-exempt private-sector employees covered by Act 379-1948. The size of the penalty turns on a date: those hired on or after 26 January 2017 are paid time and a half; those hired before are paid double, and the Act preserves anyone already entitled to a rate above time and a half before Act 4-2017.

• That the period be granted within the regular working day and ordinarily be not less than one (1) hour.Verified against the official source
• That it begin no earlier than after the second and no later than the start of the sixth consecutive work hour.Verified against the official source
• That the employee be relieved of all duties during the period: if they are, that time is not counted as worked and the employer need not compensate it.Verified against the official source

• The employer’s written notice stating the daily hours required, the schedule, and the time the meal period starts and ends.

1. 1

   Step 1: One hour, within the workday

   Article XI of Regulation 9017 puts it thus: every employer must grant employees a meal period within the regular working day, ordinarily not less than one hour. The Regulation defines that period as the one in which the employee interrupts the services rendered in order to use the time freely, without having to give even minimal attention to the duties of their post. The consequence is practical: if you are in fact relieved of all duties, that time does not count as worked and the employer need not pay it.

2. 2

   Step 2: The window: between the third and sixth hour

   Article 11 of Act 379-1948 requires that the meal period begin no earlier than after the second and no later than the start of the sixth consecutive work hour. That is, between the start of the third and the start of the sixth hour. The example is the opinion’s own: someone starting at 8:00 a.m. may begin their period any time between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. with no penalty owed. Being consecutive hours, they are generally counted from the start of the daily shift if there have been no significant interruptions.

3. 3

   Step 3: If they make you work it

   Article 11 requires an employer who employs or permits an employee to work during the meal period to pay for that period or a fraction of it a wage rate equal to time and a half the rate agreed for regular hours, and preserves the higher rate for anyone already entitled to it before Act 4-2017. The Office translates it into dates: those hired from 26 January 2017 are paid time and a half; those hired before are paid double the rate agreed for regular hours, per what the Act provided before the Act 4-2017 amendments.

4. 4

   Step 4: When it may be skipped

   Two situations, and neither requires an agreement between the parties. First: when the employee’s total hours in the day do not exceed six (6), the period may be skipped with no penalty owed. Second, the second period: when an employee works a day of more than ten (10) hours, the employer must provide a second meal period ordinarily not less than one hour, but that second period may be skipped with no agreement and no extraordinary compensation when total hours worked do not exceed twelve (12) and the employee already had their first period.

5. 5

   Step 5: Going to lunch late

   Here the Office corrects a common reading. There is no statutory duty to pay a penalty if the employee began the period at any moment inside the window the Act fixes. But if they begin it at any moment after the sixth consecutive work hour has started, the employer must pay the applicable penalty for the full duration of the corresponding period: not for the fraction by which it was late, but for the whole period.

6. 6

   Step 6: Different schedules and the written notice

   Nothing stops the employer from assigning different lunch times during the same week, or from asking an employee to take it at a different time for operational needs, as long as the statutory window is respected. What Article 11 does require is that the employer give written notice of the daily hours required, the work schedule, and the time the meal period starts and ends. That notice is satisfied by posting a notice in a common congregation area with free and easy access at all times, or on a bulletin board, or electronically by email, text messages to cell phones or an analogous mechanism. There is no additional specific advance-notice requirement, though the Office urges employers to respect the schedules notified and to reserve changes for genuinely necessary situations.

7. 7

   Step 7: How long you have to claim

   Here the Office undoes another frequent error. The limitation period for wage claims under Act 379-1948 is that of Article 12 of Act No. 180 of 1998: wage-claim actions prescribe one (1) year after the employee ceased employment with the employer. Wage claims made before Act 4-2017 was approved remain subject to the term previously in force. And the important part: the hire date is not what determines the limitation period — what governs is the date the cause of action arose. In every case, claims may include up to three (3) years before the judicial action is filed or the date of separation, as applicable.

A claim for a meal period not enjoyed is a wage claim: it can be taken to DTRH’s Bureau of Labor Standards or to court. The opinion behind this guide was issued by the Office of the Labor Prosecutor, which gives written guidance on the reading of protective labour legislation.

• Believing the period may start at any hour: it must begin between the start of the third and the start of the sixth consecutive hour.
• Thinking a late lunch is paid only for the delayed fraction, when after the sixth hour has begun the whole period is paid.
• Assuming an agreement is needed to skip the period on days of six hours or less: the Act does not require one.
• Forgetting the second meal period when the workday runs past ten hours.
• Being paid time and a half when you were hired before 26 January 2017 and are owed double.
• Using your hire date to compute the limitation period, when what governs is when the cause of action arose.
• Counting as a meal period a stretch in which you keep answering the phone or the counter: the Regulation requires being relieved of the duties of the post.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

  Departamento del Trabajo

  www.trabajo.pr.gov

• Department of Labor and Human Resources — Labor Prosecutor opinions

  dtrh

  www.trabajo.pr.gov