Vermont Needs Lunch Law

Now there are nineteen states in the United States has passed legislation requiring employers to offer lunch breaks to their employees. However, Vermont has no such law. There is only little protection for employees when they come to meal breaks in terms of the federal law. Employers in the state theoretically would be entirely within the law to work their employees 8, 10, or even 16 or more hours a day without a meal break of any kind. That makes Vermont workers surprise.

The only federal protection comes in the form of laws intended to address public safety issues rather than workers’ rights. In the U.S. Department of Transportation, it requires that meal breaks should be taken in certain occupations, such as interstate truck drivers and airline pilots.

On the other hand, Vermont employers may require workers to take lunch breaks. So a company policy is needed to require workers to clock out for unpaid lunch breaks. The Human Resources profession recommends against working employees without a meal break. Giving workers a 30 minutes unpaid break per shift is considered by general Human Resource field. It’s found that despite what common sense might say, workers granted these breaks are actually more productive.

There are 19 states that mandate meal breaks include the following: Nevada, Washington, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Nebraska, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Connecticut, Colorado, West Virginia, and Illinois. Vermont is not in the list. If the law is included in the labor law, the labor law poster and other employment law posters are required to post in the workplace.