Michael Thompson, a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment practice, in the firm’s Newark office, was featured in Corporate Counsel, in “Employee Meal Time Can Be Compensable Time for Remote Workers.”

Following is an excerpt:

Driving and eating is no fun, at least that’s what the Fifth Circuit thinks. According to Michael Thompson of Epstein Becker Green, the court recently held that an employer may have to compensate employees for meal breaks if a significant amount of travel time is required to reach the break area.

In the case, Securiguard employees were watching over gates at a Naval air station. Some only had to travel a few yards to the designated break areas, but for others it was a 12-minute round trip. They asked to eat at the stations, but Securiguard said no, because they didn’t want it to look like the guards were slacking at their duties.

Mr. Thompson has also written about this topic in “Meal Periods with Travel Restrictions May Be Compensable,” on the Wage & Hour Defense Blog, an Epstein Becker Green publication. 

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.