5.9 Meal Pay

This policy was last updated May 2, 2023. See the update history page for more information.

Support Staff employees who are required to work a minimum of 10¼ hours during a given shift are given a 45 minute meal period with pay at the rate in effect at the time of the break. Normally the meal period is given during the shift, not at the end, since it is intended to be a period of rest as well as an opportunity to eat. However, if for operational reasons the supervisor must require an employee to work straight through until the completion of the job, the meal allowance is added at the end as additional time worked. This policy does not generally apply to part-time employees, unless the hours worked in the day total those of a normal full-time workday.

Time paid for a meal period is reported as time worked, and is counted toward overtime calculations for the workweek.