June 1, 2026
The quarterly, nondiscretionary bonuses an employer gave to eligible employees already contemplated overtime pay and therefore don’t trigger a recalculation of the workers’ regular rate of pay, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division said in one of four opinion letters it released.
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In a third letter, the DOL concluded that a worker’s voluntary time spent in transit during a meal break is not compensable under the FLSA.
A worker said that it takes between five and 10 minutes for employees to walk from the job site to the parking lot, leaving between 10 and 15 minutes in the meal break, according to the letter.
The worker argued that this discouraged employees from taking meal breaks away from the job site, the letter indicates.
However, the DOL said the meal break is long enough for employees to use on site and workers are relieved from their duties during the 30-minute break.
“While your letter indicates that you believe that 30 minutes is insufficient time for an off-site meal due to the physical characteristics of the employer’s facility … you nevertheless have the option to leave the employer’s premises during the meal period — which … is not required by the act,” the DOL said.
In a footnote, the DOL also pointed out that state and local wage and hour laws might include “rules and requirements that are more stringent than the FLSA.”
Rebecca Ojserkis, a worker-side attorney at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, said the letter leaves open the question of whether the department would reach the same conclusion in scenarios in which worksites might not be a safe place for employees to eat their lunches.
Ojserkis said that the DOL’s footnote “is a crucial flag.”
“For employers in many parts of the country, the FLSA requirements are not the floor; state or local mandates are,” Ojserkis said. “And even where the FLSA is the floor, employers should bear in mind what are best practices for worker productivity, satisfaction, and retention.”