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Break (work)

A break at work is a period of time during a shift in which an employee is allowed to take time off from his/her job. There are different types of breaks, and depending on the length and the employer's policies, the break may or may not be paid.

Meal breaks or lunch breaks usually range from 30 minutes to one hour. Their purpose is to allow the employee to have a meal that is regularly scheduled during the work day. For a typical daytime job, this is lunch, but this may vary for those with other work hours. It is not uncommon for this break to be unpaid, and for the entire work day from start to finish to be longer than the number of hours paid in order to accommodate this time.

In the United Kingdom the law states that employers are legally required to provide at least a 10-minute break for every four consecutive hours worked and that a person must not work more than four hours in succession. When working in a restaurant environment, staff can be required to work up to six hours straight before having a break but must be given at least 20 minutes break for each six hours worked. Employers are not allowed to make a member of their staff take a break earlier in the shift then work more than four consecutive hours or six consecutive hours in one go without a further break; for example, if an employee was working ten hours the company could not give him twenty minutes' break two hours into the shift and then expect the employee to work the rest of the shift without a further break.