All employees must receive a meal break of at least 30 consecutive minutes if the employee is scheduled to work 7.5 or more hours per day.
Meal breaks must be given sometime after the first two (2) hours of work and before the last two (2) hours of work.
This rule does not apply when:
• The employee is a professional employee certified by the State Board of Education and employed by a local school board to work directly with
children.
• There is a collective bargaining agreement or other employer-employee written agreement which provides otherwise.
Rules have been issued granting exemptions when:
• Compliance would adversely affect public safety
• Only one (1) employee may perform the duties of a position
• An employer has fewer than five (5) employees on a shift at one location (the exception would only apply to that shift)
• The continuous nature of an employer’s operations, such as chemical production or research experiments, requires employees to respond to urgent or unusual conditions at all times and the employees are compensated for their meal breaks.

Where exemptions are allowed, employees must be allowed to eat meals at their work stations or other authorized locations and use rest room
facilities as reasonably necessary.

It is unlawful to retaliate against an employee because (s)he has made a complaint or given information to the Department of Labor about possible labor law violations. Violations of Delaware Labor laws could result in fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

EMPLOYERS ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO DISPLAY THIS OFFICIAL POSTER IN A PLACE ACCESSIBLE TO EMPLOYEES AND WHERE THEY REGULARLY PASS.