Washington Meal and Rest Break Laws (2026)

The rule

	Washington
Meal period	At least 30 minutes on shifts over 5 hours, starting no less than 2 and no more than 5 hours after the shift begins
More meal periods	No one may work more than 5 consecutive hours without a meal period. Another 30 minutes is due within 5 hours of the end of the first. Employees working 3 or more hours past their normal workday get a meal period before or during the extra hours
Meal pay	Unpaid only when the employee is free from all duties. Paid when the employee must stay on duty or on call at the work site, or is called back to work
Rest periods	At least 10 minutes, paid, for every 4 hours worked, as close to the middle of the work period as possible. No one may work more than 3 hours without a rest break
Waivers	An employee may waive the meal period if the employer agrees, and can ask for it back at any time. Rest breaks cannot be waived
Missed rest break	Owed as 10 more minutes of pay, at time and a half if the week is already over 40 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
Who is covered	Private employees 18 and older outside agriculture, and most public employees. Minors and farmworkers have separate rules; union construction trades can set their own terms in a collective bargaining agreement; employers can apply to L&I for a variance

The meal window: 2 to 5 hours in

WAC 296-126-092 requires the meal period to begin no sooner than 2 hours and no later than 5 hours after the shift starts. For a shift that starts at 8:00 a.m., lunch has to start between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Sending someone at 1:15 p.m. misses the window even if the break is a full 30 minutes.

Longer shifts need more. L&I counts 5 hours from the end of the first meal: if the shift runs more than 5 hours past it, a second 30 minutes is due. In practice a 12-hour shift gets two meal periods and three rest breaks.

If an employee has to stay on duty or on call at the work site during the meal, the whole meal is paid and the employee still gets 30 total minutes of mealtime, not counting interruptions. An employer can require people to stay on the premises for an unpaid meal only if they are completely free from work.

Rest breaks are paid and cannot be waived

The rest break is 10 minutes on the employer's time for every 4 hours worked, scheduled near the middle of the work period, and no one may work more than 3 hours without one. Employers can require staff to stay on site during rest breaks.

Where the work naturally allows it, short breaks that add up to 10 minutes in each 4 hours can replace a scheduled break. L&I says this does not work for jobs that need constant physical effort or constant watchfulness, such as a production line, and a string of one-minute pauses does not count.

What a missed break costs

Washington has no fixed one-hour premium like California. For rest breaks, the Washington Supreme Court held in Washington State Nurses Association v. Sacred Heart Medical Center (2012) that working through a break extends the workday, so each missed rest break is owed as 10 more minutes of pay, at the overtime rate when the employee is already over 40 hours that week.

Hospitals have stricter rules under RCW 49.12.480. L&I's hospital policy requires an extra 30 minutes of pay for each missed meal period and an extra 10 minutes for each missed rest break for covered hospital staff, and hospitals must report missed breaks to L&I every quarter.

Rules for minors (effective July 1, 2026)

Minors cannot waive meal or rest breaks. L&I's rules for nonagricultural work:

Under 16: a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break no later than 4 consecutive hours into work, at least 10-minute paid rest breaks, and never more than 2 consecutive hours without a meal or rest break (WAC 296-125-111).
16 and 17: a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break no later than 5 consecutive hours into work, a paid 10-minute rest break when working 4 or more hours, and never more than 3 hours without a rest break (WAC 296-125-121).

Worked example: an 18-person restaurant

A line cook paid $20 an hour works 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with a 30-minute unpaid meal: 8 hours of work.

The meal has to start between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. (2 to 5 hours after 11:00 a.m.). A 3:30 p.m. meal is on time; a 4:15 p.m. meal is not.
She gets two paid 10-minute rest breaks, for example around 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., so no stretch runs longer than 3 hours.
On a busy Friday the kitchen skips her second rest break. She is owed 10 more minutes of pay: $3.33 at her regular rate, or $5 at the $30 overtime rate if she is already past 40 hours that week. If 6 cooks each miss one rest break on 5 shifts, that is about $100 a week in back pay before any wage claim.

How to track it

Washington's meal rule is a time window, so the record has to show when each shift started and when the meal began, not just how long it lasted. For rest breaks, the question is whether a 10-minute break happened in each 4-hour block, and a punch is the easiest way to prove it did.

ClockOut records meal and rest breaks as their own punches. Admins can set company-wide break rules in the form "after X hours worked, a break of at least Y minutes" for meals and rest breaks, and late or missing breaks show up in the manager's exception inbox. ClockOut does not add pay for a missed rest break, so when one appears, add the 10 minutes (at the overtime rate if the week is over 40) before running payroll, and keep any meal waivers on file yourself.

Washington meal and rest breaks FAQ

Can an employee skip lunch in Washington?

Yes, if the employee chooses to waive the meal period and the employer agrees. The employee can ask for the meal period back at any time, and L&I recommends getting the waiver in writing. Rest breaks can never be waived.

Does the meal break have to be paid in Washington?

Not if the employee is completely free from duty for the full 30 minutes. If the employee must stay on duty or on call at the work site, or gets called back to work, the whole meal period is paid.

How many breaks does an 8-hour shift get?

One 30-minute meal period that starts between the second and fifth hour, plus two paid 10-minute rest breaks, with no more than 3 hours of work without a rest break.

What does a missed rest break cost in Washington?

Ten more minutes of pay for each missed break, under the Washington Supreme Court's 2012 Sacred Heart decision. If the employee is already over 40 hours that week, those 10 minutes are paid at time and a half.

Sources, checked September 23, 2026

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change; check the linked source.