08/17/2026
🚨 **MYTH MONDAY**
“My employee doesn't want to take lunch. They'd rather work through it and leave 30 minutes early.”
Sounds reasonable, right?
In New York, it's not that simple.
Employers are generally required to provide qualifying employees with designated meal periods. An employee choosing to work through lunch doesn't automatically mean those 30 minutes can simply be moved to the end of the day.
And here's another important piece:
A true meal period is generally unpaid only when the employee is completely relieved of their duties.
If they're eating at their desk while answering phones, helping customers, responding to emails, or otherwise continuing to work, you may have a wage-and-hour issue—not a lunch break.
💡 Employer takeaway: Don't treat required meal periods like 30 minutes of flex time. Have a clear meal-period policy, make sure managers understand it, and address employees who routinely work through lunch rather than quietly allowing it to become the norm.
📌 Save this one and take a look at how lunch breaks are actually being handled at your business—not just what the handbook says.
