Can someone please tell me if I am interpretting this correctly?

The U.S. Department of Labor has clarified compensable work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act in regard to meal breaks, straight time and overtime. In an opinion letter dated May 15, 2008, the department reached the following conclusions:

If an employee fails to take a 30-minute unpaid meal break and the failure to take a meal break does not cause the employee to work more than 40 hours in the workweek, no additional compensation is due to the employee if the employee's total wages for the workweek divided by the compensable hours worked equal or exceed the applicable minimum wage.

If an employee fails to take a 30-minute unpaid meal break and the employee does work more than 40 hours in the workweek, the 30-minute unpaid meal break must be counted for purposes of determining overtime compensation. An employee must be paid all straight time wages due for all hours worked before an employee can be said to be paid statutory overtime compensation due.

I am in Illinois. I have several off-site ee's that never take a lunch break (supposedly) and mark their timesheets as such. They are paid that extra 30 minutes. Does this new DOL opinion mean that we are not obligated to pay for that time that they chose to work through lunch?

The second section then discusses the overtime implication of not taking a lunch break. How do you all interpret that statment?

It's all clear as mud to me.

Thanks

Can you provide a link to that opinion letter?

But basically I think this is what it means....

A ½ hr a day is 2½ hrs a week for lunch break, means that if deduction is made by the employer and lunch break is not taken by the employee and the employee worked a full 40 hrs workweek that would make the week a 42½ week in which over time would be due at the applicable rate.

However, on the same sample above the employee works 37½ or less on any workweek. As long as the employee has been paid at the correct applicable minimum wage no extra wages are due to this employee.

You have to pay a non-exempt employee for all hours ACTUALLY worked & pay at least the minimum hourly wage for all hours ACTUALLY worked. You must pay overtime after 40 hrs. ACTUALLY worked in a work week. (There are some exceptions in a few states where you have to pay OT after so many hrs. worked in a day even if you didn't work over 40 hrs. a week.)

You are obligated to pay the employees if they work through lunch.

However under FLSA if the worker worked 35 hrs say at $10 per hr = $350 and the employer deducted 2.5 hrs, you are correct the employer must/should pay for those 2.5 hrs, however there is no enforcement authority to make the ermployer pay for those 2.5 hrs. Under FLSA the federal agency charge with enforcing the law, can only enforce the federal minimum wage at the time, in non overtime week, which is lower, in this sample...

There is an enforcement arm and it is the Illinois State DOL.