Are Breaks Required by Law in Tennessee: Meals, Minors, Pay

Yes, but only one: Tennessee law requires employers to give a 30-minute unpaid meal break to any employee scheduled to work six or more consecutive hours. That is the only break required by law in Tennessee. No state statute requires coffee breaks, rest breaks, or any additional meal period on longer shifts. Federal rules add protections in a few specific situations, mainly around nursing employees and how break time gets paid.

The One Break Tennessee Requires

Tennessee Code Annotated Section 50-2-103(h) sets the rule. If you are scheduled to work at least six consecutive hours, your employer must provide a 30-minute meal break, and it must be unpaid as long as you are fully relieved of duties during it.¹

There is one timing rule attached. The break cannot be scheduled during or before the first hour of your shift. That prevents an employer from front-loading a “meal period” at the start of the day when you don’t actually need one.¹

The statute stops there. If you work a 10- or 12-hour shift, you are still legally entitled to just the one 30-minute meal period. Anything beyond that comes from company policy or a contract, not from Tennessee law.

Rest Breaks and Coffee Breaks

Tennessee has no law requiring short rest breaks, smoke breaks, or coffee breaks. Those are entirely at your employer’s discretion.

Federal law does set one rule for employers who choose to offer them. The U.S. Department of Labor treats any break of 20 minutes or less as paid work time. It counts toward your total hours and toward overtime.² An employer who offers a 15-minute break but deducts it from your pay is violating federal wage rules, even though the break itself was never required.

Breaks for Workers Under 18

Minors get the same 30-minute meal break for shifts of six or more consecutive hours, with the same restriction against scheduling it during or before the first hour of work. The rule for minors is in TCA Section 50-5-115, part of the Tennessee Child Labor Act.³

Enforcement bites harder here. Under TCA Section 50-5-112, a first offense carries a civil penalty of $150 per minor, and a second offense is $300 per minor, assessed at the commissioner’s discretion.⁴

Breaks for Nursing Employees

Two laws cover pumping breaks: a Tennessee statute and the federal PUMP Act. Where they differ, the stronger protection wins, and for most Tennessee workers that is the federal law.

TCA Section 50-1-305 requires employers to provide reasonable unpaid break time each day to express breast milk, running concurrently with existing breaks when possible. It also tells employers to make reasonable efforts to provide a private space other than a toilet stall. The state law includes an exception: the employer is not required to provide the break if doing so would unduly disrupt operations.⁵

The federal Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, signed in December 2022, is stronger. It covers nearly all FLSA-covered employees, guarantees reasonable break time each time the employee needs to pump for up to one year after the child’s birth, and requires a space that is shielded from view, free from intrusion, and not a bathroom.⁶

Employers with fewer than 50 employees may claim an undue hardship exemption, evaluated based on size, financial resources, and business structure. If you work for an employer with 50 or more employees, that exemption does not apply, and the state law’s “unduly disrupt operations” escape hatch is overridden by the federal standard.⁶

When a Break Has to Be Paid

Federal law, not state law, controls whether break time counts as paid hours. Two rules do most of the work:

Breaks of 20 minutes or less are compensable work time.
Meal periods of 30 minutes or more are unpaid only if the employee is completely relieved of all duties.

That second rule is where most break disputes actually happen. If your employer deducts 30 minutes for lunch but you spent the time answering phones, covering a register, or watching equipment, the FLSA treats the entire period as paid work time, and your employer owes wages for it.⁷

What It Costs an Employer to Deny the Break

Tennessee treats a meal break violation as both a criminal offense and a civil one. Under TCA Section 50-2-103(i), it is a Class B misdemeanor with a fine of $100 to $500. Employers who willfully violate the statute also face a civil penalty of $500 to $1,000, assessed at the commissioner’s discretion. Each infraction is a separate offense, so repeat violations add up quickly.¹

There is a limited break for first-time offenders. If the commissioner finds the first violation was unintentional, the employer gets a warning instead of a penalty. After that, the civil penalty applies.¹

If You Complain, Can You Be Fired?

Not legally. Section 15(a)(3) of the FLSA makes it illegal for an employer to fire, demote, or otherwise punish an employee for filing a wage or hour complaint. The protection covers oral and written complaints, and most courts have held that internal complaints to a supervisor count, not just formal filings with the government.⁸

An employee who faces retaliation can file with the federal Wage and Hour Division or sue directly. Remedies include reinstatement, lost wages, and an equal amount in liquidated damages.⁸

How to File a Complaint and How Long You Have

Tennessee employees cannot sue directly under the state wage law for a meal break violation. You file with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Start the complaint online; the department will send you a Statement of Wage Claim Form with an assigned inspector, which you complete, sign, and return to open the investigation. The department’s toll-free number for questions is (844) 224-5818.⁹

For federal wage claims, including unpaid break time under the FLSA, you have two years from the date of the violation to file, or three years if the violation was willful.¹⁰ Miss the window and the wages are gone, so don’t sit on it.

1
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 50-2-103 – Payment of Employees
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Breaks and Meal Periods
3
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 50-5-115 – Breaks and Meal Periods for Working Minors
4
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 50-5-112 – Violations – Penalties
5
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 50-1-305 – Breast Milk Expressing by Employees – Break Time and Place
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers Under the FLSA
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #77A: Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
9
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. How to Begin a Wage Claim
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 255 – Statute of Limitations