Should lunch breaks be deducted from hours worked?

Updated November 15, 2026 · Worked examples use whole minutes

Deduct a lunch break only when it is unpaid and you were completely free from work during it. Short rest breaks that your employer pays for stay in your worked hours.

Calculate it step by step

List every break you took and how long it lasted.
Mark which breaks are unpaid under your contract or workplace policy.
Remove any unpaid break during which you kept working.
Add the remaining unpaid minutes and enter them once as the unpaid break for that shift.

Worked example

A shift from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm with a 30-minute unpaid lunch and two paid 10-minute rest breaks: the span is 8 hours 30 minutes, the lunch comes off and the rest breaks stay, leaving 8 hours worked.

Only the 30-minute unpaid lunch comes off. The two paid 10-minute breaks stay, leaving 8 hours worked.

Check your own shifts in the time card calculator

What if you worked through lunch?

In the US, federal law does not require breaks, but when an employer gives short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes they count as work time. A bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or more, is not work time if you are completely relieved from duty. Some states, such as California, require meal breaks for longer shifts.

If you ate at your desk while answering calls or watching a machine, you were not relieved from duty, so that time is normally work time. In the UK, workers over 18 are entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute rest break when working more than six hours a day; it does not have to be paid, so check your contract.

Quick answers

Are 15-minute breaks paid?

In the US, short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes that an employer provides are counted as work time under federal rules. In the UK it depends on your contract.

Is a 30-minute lunch break paid?

Usually not. A meal break of 30 minutes or more is normally unpaid if you are completely relieved from duty. If you keep working, it is generally work time.