Washington
Washington rest break rules for field crews
Washington's first meal rule is straightforward; its second is defined relative to the employer's own normal workday, which no fixed hour number can express.
What the law requires
A paid 10-minute rest period for each 4 hours of working time, and no more than three hours of work without one.
What it means on a crew
A worker who works through a rest break has worked ten more minutes than they were paid for, and past 40 hours that time is overtime (WSNA v. Sacred Heart Medical Center, 2012).
What Punchless does
When the worker reports a missed rest break, its ten minutes are priced at the regular rate, or at time and a half once the week is past 40 hours, and carried in the payroll export.
Every rule we enforce is published with the statute behind it and the test that checks it, so this is a claim you can verify rather than take on faith.
A rest break leaves no trace in location data, so the only evidence of a missed one is the worker saying so. The third-hour timing is not checked.
If you are relying on this, ask us before you buy. We would rather lose the sale than have you find out at a hearing.
Other Washington rules
Verified against primary sources on October 1, 2026. Statutes and wage orders change, and some of this is genuinely unsettled - re-check the source before relying on it. Punchless is not a law firm and this is not legal advice.