Breaks: Meal & Rest

In Hawaii, the only requirement for breaks is found in the Hawaii Child Labor Law under Section 390-2(c)(3), Hawaii Revised Statutes, which requires that employers provide to minors fourteen or fifteen years of age a thirty minute rest or meal period after five consecutive hours of work.

There is no law that requires rest or meal breaks for other employees.

However, if an employer does provide a break for the purpose of a meal, the period is not compensable if the period is thirty minutes or more and the employee is completely relieved of duty.  Therefore, it is possible to be scheduled at the place of business for 8 1/2 hours with 8 hours of work and one unpaid 30-minute meal period.

Rest breaks of five to twenty minutes are counted as hours worked and are compensable.