If a shift is longer than 5 hours, there must be an unpaid 30 minute meal break, to occur between the 2nd and 5th hours … Provision of rest between shifts: If nurses or techs accept overtime and work for more than twelve hours (including non-overtime hours), they must be given the option for at least eight hours of … Code 296-131-020(2). The meal period must be separate and distinct from, and in addition to, any rest breaks. Examples of professions that required constant mental or physical exertion include armored truck drivers and production line workers. Policy ES.C.6.1. Motion picture projectionists under collective bargaining agreement or other contract. See FLSA: Overtime for more information regarding overtime requirements. of Labor and Industry Admin. Workers must be at least 2 (two) hours into the shift before the meal time can start. ***Workers not covered under Washington's overtime laws may still be entitled to protection under federal law***, Washington State Department of Labor & Industry. Employers may agree, upon requests from employees, to allow them to waive their meal periods, although employers are not required to do so. In these situations, employers are required to provide scheduled ten (10) minute rest breaks. When employees who are 14 and 15 years old work four-hour periods, employee cannot required them to work more than two (2) hours without giving them either a ten (10) minute rest break or a thirty (30) minute meal period. They must allow employees to take meal periods that are at least thirty (30) minutes in length. What is the Washington state law for hours off in between shifts? Here, we will focus on Washington state law including pay day requirements (frequency and manner), minimum wages and overtime pay. For subsequent meal periods, employers must allow employees to take them sometime after the initial five (5) hour work period has ended. WA Dept. Washington employers must pay their hourly employees at least once a month. Long work hours and irregular work shifts are common in our society. Non-exempt employees must be given a meal break of at least 30 minutes for every shift that is 6 hours or longer. If an employer chooses to provide severance benefits, it must comply with the terms of its established policy or employment contract. Employers must pay employees for their meal period when the employers: When employee’s meal periods are interrupted due to work, employers must ensure that those employees receive 30 total minutes of mealtime. WA Admin. Labor Law on Time Between Shifts. Employers are not allowed to use intermittent rest periods when the nature of employees’ work requires employees to engage in constant mental or physical exertion. Under the state of Ohio labor laws, there is no legal limit on how much time has to elapse between an employee’s shifts. Employers must allow employees who are 14 and 15 years old to take paid rest breaks of at least ten (10) minutes for every two (2) hours they work. WA Admin. Washington’s labor law allows employers in the construction trades and bargaining representatives to agree to provide meal periods that are less favorable than those required by Washington’s meal period requirements as long as the collective bargaining agreement specifically requires rest and meal periods and set forth the conditions for the rest and meal periods. The workweek may begin at any hour on any calendar day. If the shift is longer than 7 hours, then the break must be given between the third and sixth hours. Employees at any time may revoke their waiver or choose to take a meal period in spite of the waiver. Additionally, employers must allow employees to take their meal periods no later than at the end of each five (5) hour period worked. Workers putting in a 12-hour shift reasonably expect a meal time … 1) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (Federal). ... Washington state law for hours … Inmate, resident, or patient of any state, county, or municipal correctional, detention, treatment, or rehab institution. Employers must provide the first meal period at least two (2) hours into each five (5) consecutive work period. Employees may also be kept on call between shifts. For more information on Washington’s minimum wage laws, visit our Washington Minimum Wage Laws page, which includes topics such as minimum wage, tip minimum wage, tip sharing and pooling, and subminimum wages. An eight-hour workday is standard for most workers, with time given for lunch and one or two short rest breaks. Employers may not allow employees who are 14 and 15 years old to work more than four (4) hours with being given a meal period lasting at least 30 minutes. The statutory meal and rest requirements do not apply to: Employers must provide employees who are 16 and 17 years old meal periods as follows: Employers must provide employees who are 16 and 17 years old rest periods as follows: Employers must provide employees who are 14 and 15 years old meal and break periods as follows: Washington labor laws require agricultural employer to provide employees an unpaid meal period of at least 30 minutes when they are employed more than five (5) hours in a shift. (a) An employee is scheduled to work a shift in which the majority of hours worked daily or weekly are between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.; or (b) An employee is scheduled to work a shift which is split with a minimum of four intervening hours … Stay up-to-date with how the law affects your life, Name Public employers with collective bargaining agreements (CBA) in effect prior to April 1, 2003 that provide for meal and rest periods that are different from the state requirements. For purposes of this requirement, a normal workday is the shift an employee is regularly scheduled to work. Employers are not required to pay for meal periods if employees are free from any duties for their entire meal period. of Labor and Industry Admin. of Labor, may set overtime pay requirements for occupations or industries exempted by state law. Complaints may also be filed with the following agency: U.S. Labor Department - Wage and Hour … Several states limit the total number of hours a minor may work in a week during times when school is in session. When paying overtime, a business must pay at least one and one-half times the worker’s regular hourly rate. Below is an overview of the minimum wage and overtime pay laws that apply to workers in the state of Washington. L&I handles safety & health, wage & hour, and some other types of workplace discrimination. of Labor: Understanding Overtime. Are you a legal professional? For example, if an employee works twelve (12) consecutive hours in a workday, the employer would be required to provide that employee two (2) 30-minute meal breaks. The worker—according to Washington Labor Laws Breaks—must be at least two hours into the shift before the meal period can start. Employees must, with two exceptions, receive at least eight hours free from work between shifts, whether they are "split shifts," "on call shifts," "back-to-back" shifts or ordinary daily shifts. Most workers who are paid an hourly wage and work more than 40 hours in a 7-day work week must be paid overtime. The effect of this dual coverage is that the employer must follow the higher standard, meaning the one most beneficial to the employee, when there are differing requirements in the laws. Employers may require employees to remain on their premises during the rest period. Internet Explorer 11 is no longer supported. Holiday, Vacation & Bereavement Leave Washington State does not require employers to provide leave or … Although it's a common misconception that employers are required to give employees eight hours off between shifts, there is no federal law regulating this for general industries. Washington labor law does not allow employers and bargaining representatives to agree to provide rest periods to employees that are less favorable than those required by Washington’s rest period requirements. Federal labor law places no limitations on how many hours an adult may work during any one day and does not place mandatory minimums on the hours between shifts. On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with the cultivation of the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and furbearing animals and wildlife, or in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment; or. Information about Washington voting leave laws may now be found on our Washington Leave Laws page. This covers rules on minimum annual leave, weekly rest breaks and minimum time between shifts, writes Peninsula’s Kate Palmer. Some industries have regulations that require breaks between shifts for certain job categories. WA Dept. Google Chrome, The meal time cannot start more than 5 hours after the beginning of the shift. In these situations, scheduled 10-minute rest periods are not required. A work period of eight consecutive hours over five days with at least eight hours of rest in between shifts defines a standard shift. Sign up for Employment Law Handbook’s free email updates to stay informed. WA Dept. Tipped Employees: Businesses may not use tips as credit toward minimum wages owed to a worker. Employers should attempt to schedule employees rest periods as close to the midpoint of the four (4) hours work period as possible. Most Washington employers are subject to both federal and state minimum wage and overtime laws. Seaman on American or foreign vessel. Washington’s current minimum wage is $12.00. Agricultural activity is defined as services performed: Agricultural activity does not include employment in commercial packing houses, commercial storage establishments, commercial canning, commercial freezing, or any other commercial processing with respect to services performed in connection with the cultivation, raising, harvesting and processing of oysters or raising and harvesting of mushrooms or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption. If you have questions about wage and hour laws in Washington, it's best to contact a local employment law attorney who can explain the effects that these laws have on your specific situation. When paying overtime, a business must pay at least one and one-half times the worker’s regular hourly rate. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require extra pay for night work. Also, employers must allow employees to take rest periods no later than the end of the third hour of each four (4) hours work period. Yes. The minimum wage for employees in Washington is $11.50 per hour. Many American workers spend over 40 hours a week at work and almost 15 million work full time on evening, night, rotating or other irregular shifts… When employers call employees to work during their rest periods, the rest period converts to an intermittent rest period and employers must ensure that the employees subsequently receive enough break time to meet the ten (10) minute requirement. The rest periods must be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint of the four (4) work period. Microsoft Edge. File a complaint online or call 1-866-219-7321. Failure to pay the legal minimum wage and other violations may result in payment of back wages and civil or criminal action where warranted. Presently, no OSHA standard to regulate extended and unusual shifts in the workplace exists. See Fair Wages FAQ, Exempt Employees, and Employees Rights 101 for more information. They must show in good cause that the variance is needed due to the nature of the work. Most Washington state workers who are paid an hourly wage and work more than 40 hours in a 7-day work week must be paid overtime. Policy ES.C.6.1. An agricultural employer is any person, firm, corporation, partnership, business trust, legal representative, or other business entity that engages in any agricultural activity in this state and employs one or more employees. Private actions to enforce Washington’s wage and hour laws, and recover unpaid overtime due to workers, are commonly brought (on a contingent fee basis) by employment law firms such as The Lore Law … Employees of an air carrier when such hours are voluntarily worked pursuant to a shift-trading practice. Employers, not including agricultural employers, must provide employees who are 18 years old and older at least one thirty (30) minute meal period when they work at least five (5) consecutive hours in a workday. In addition, the new law requires employers to provide employees with a minimum 10-hour rest period between shifts “[u]nless the employee requests or consents” to a shorter rest period. Employers must pay time … The Fair Labor Standards Act, which is administered by the U.S. Dept. See Pellino v. Brink’s, 267 P.3d 383 (2011). See State vs. Federal "White Collar" Overtime information. Information about Washington sick leave laws may now be found on our Washington Leave Laws page. The minimum amount of time off that should be provided to a worker is set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998. The meal periods must start no less than two (2) hours but no more than five (5) hours from the beginning of their work shift. Though California does not have any laws regarding time between shifts, it does have laws requiring employers to pay overtime for hours worked beyond the standard eight-hour workday. Policy ES.C.6.1. Construction trades include, but are not limited to, employees working in construction, alteration, or repair of any type of privately, commercially, or publicly-owned building, road, or parking lot, erecting playground or school year equipment, or other related industries where the employees are in a recognized construction trade covered by a CBA. Workers employed on farms or ranches, or in any agricultural or horticultural business that packs, packages, grades, stores, or delivers to market such products, or any commercial business in canning, freezing, processing or transporting these products, or in cultivating, raising, harvesting or processing oysters. Typically, employees work eight-hour workdays, but most employees can be required to work up to 12 hours per workday. Subsequent collective bargaining agreements may provide for meal and rest periods that are specifically different, in whole or in part, from the requirements of the state law. It is the responsibility of the employer to determine liability under both laws. Employers must provide rest periods at least every three (3) hours. Employers must allow employees who are 16 and 17 years old to take a paid rest period of not less than ten (10) minutes for each four (4) hours worked. As for the breaks, your employer is definitely breaking the law. Information about Washington jury duty leave laws may now be found on our Washington Leave Laws page. Information about Washington holiday leave laws may now be found on our Washington Leave Laws page. After all, these laws are in place to protect the worker from being taken advantage of by an employer. 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