Oregon Laws on Meal and Rest Breaks

Oregon employers must provide both meal breaks and paid rest breaks.


State law is a different story, however. A number of states require employers to provide meal breaks or rest breaks. Oregon is one of the handful of states that requires both.

Federal Law: Paid versus Unpaid Breaks





Oregon Law Requires Meal and Rest Breaks

A number of states follow the federal law: They don’t require meal or rest breaks, but they require employers to pay for any short breaks allowed (and to pay for all time an employee spends working, whether or not the employee is eating at the same time).

Some states require either meal or rest breaks. Oregon is one of the handful of states that require employers to provide both types of breaks.

Meal Breaks

Oregon employers must provide a 30-minute meal break to employees who work at least six hours. This break may be unpaid only if the employee is relieved of all duties. If the employee cannot be relieved of all duties, the employer must provide paid time to eat. An employer may provide a shorter meal break (of at least 20 minutes) if it can show that this is the industry standard or custom. However, the shorter break must be paid.

For employees who work a shift of seven hours or less, the meal break must occur between the second and fifth hours of the shift. For employees who work more than seven hours, the break must take place between the third and sixth hours of the shift.

Rest Breaks

Employees in Oregon are entitled to take a paid ten-minute rest period for each four hours worked (or major fraction thereof). The break must be approximately in the middle of the work period, if practical.

This rest period is in addition to the meal period described above, and it must be taken separately. The break period can’t be added to the meal period or deducted from the beginning or the end of the employee’s shirt to reduce the total hours worked.

Employers are not required to provide paid rest breaks for certain adult employees who are serving the public alone in a retail or service establishment. However, these employees must have an opportunity to use the rest room.

Oregon employers must also provide a reasonable rest period to employees who are breastfeeding to express milk each time the employee needs to, for up to 18 months after the child’s birth.

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