How it works. Pick the state where the employee works and enter the shift length. You get the meal and rest breaks the state's official rule calls for, whether they're paid, and the rule's own wording and link. Tick the box for a worker under 18 to add the minors' rule.
Check the breaks for a shift
Iowa break rules
- Meal break
- Not confirmed on an official page.
- Rest breaks
- Not confirmed on an official page.
- Minors (14 and 15)
- 14- and 15-year-olds get a 30-minute break after 5 hours worked, during the school year and in summer.
"30-minute break after 5 hours worked"
Add the shift length above to count the breaks. Source: Iowa DIAL: Hiring Iowa teens, what an employer needs to know
Reading the result
"Breaks are required" means the state rule we found calls for at least one break in a shift that long. Where a state's rule has no hours or minutes to count, such as Vermont's "reasonable opportunities" or Kentucky's lunch period between the 3rd and 5th hour, you get the rule in words. "No state requirement" appears only where the state's own labor agency says it has no break law; "Not confirmed" means we couldn't find an official page either way.
Union contracts, industry wage orders, city ordinances and an employer's own policy can give more. For every state at once, see meal and rest break laws by state.
General information checked November 2026 against the official pages linked in each result, not legal advice. We are not lawyers, and MCC Solutions is not a law firm. Union contracts, industry rules, city ordinances and federal rules (such as break time for nursing employees) can add to a state rule; the state labor agency or an employment attorney can tell you how a rule applies to one workplace.
Questions about the checker
How does the checker count breaks?
It reads the state's rule from our table and compares it with the shift length. A rule written as 'more than 5 hours' starts at 5 hours and 1 minute; one written as '6 hours or more' starts at exactly 6. Rules that add a break every so many hours are counted step by step, and a rule that lengthens a break (Rhode Island's 20 then 30 minutes) is shown as one longer break.
What does 'consecutive hours' change?
Several states count hours worked in a row. A shift broken by an unpaid meal period may restart the count, so a long day with a lunch in the middle can need fewer breaks than the same hours worked straight through. The checker assumes the hours are worked in one stretch, which gives the most breaks the rule can call for.
Why does it ask whether the worker is a minor?
Many states set breaks only for young workers, often 30 minutes after about 5 hours, and some set different ages (under 16 in Virginia and Louisiana, 14 and 15 in Oklahoma and Alabama). Ticking the box adds the state's minors' rule to the result.
Does a federal law require breaks?
Not for adults. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't require meal or rest breaks, but it treats short breaks of about 20 minutes or less as paid work time, and a meal period is unpaid only when the employee is fully relieved of duty. Federal law also requires break time for nursing employees.
Does the checker save what I enter?
No. The page reads the choices from the address bar, works out the breaks and shows them. Nothing is stored, and it works without JavaScript.