Washington requires specific meal and paid rest breaks for many adult workers. Everhour supports the time policies behind repeatable review.
Enter your daily hours and rate to instantly calculate total hours, regular pay, and any overtime — no spreadsheet needed.
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
A Washington break calculation answers whether a covered worker received the meal and rest periods required for the shift. Washington L&I says the general meal-and-rest rule applies to most adult non-agricultural employees, while employees under 18 and agricultural workers have different standards. For most Washington adult employees, a shift over five hours triggers a meal period of at least 30 minutes.
The calculation also decides which break minutes stay in paid time. Washington requires a paid, duty-free rest period of at least 10 minutes for every four hours worked, and those rest breaks count as hours worked for paid sick leave and overtime calculations. A meal period may be unpaid only when the employee is free from all duties for the entire break.
Start with total time on site, then subtract only unpaid meal periods that meet the duty-free test. Do not subtract Washington paid rest breaks from hours worked. Most adult non-agricultural employees must receive a 30-minute meal period when they work more than five hours, and the meal must start between the second and fifth hour of the shift.
Assume a Washington adult non-agricultural employee is on site for 9 hours at $27 per hour. The employee takes one fully duty-free 30-minute unpaid meal period and two paid 10-minute rest breaks. Paid work time is 8.5 hours because the paid rest breaks stay in hours worked. Straight-time pay is $229.50.
Washington break compliance is not only a minutes total. Employees cannot be required to work more than three hours without a rest period, and rest periods should be scheduled as close as possible to the midpoint of the work period. Jobs with intermittent downtime can use mini rest breaks if they total at least 10 minutes over each four-hour period.
Meal periods and rest periods have different waiver rules. Washington allows a meal-period requirement to be waived only if the employee and employer agree. Rest-break requirements cannot be waived. A common mistake is treating a signed meal waiver as permission to skip rest periods, or deducting a meal period when the employee stayed on duty, on call at the worksite, or was interrupted.
A one-off calculation works for a single shift audit, a missed-meal question, or a quick payroll review. It gives the paid hours for that shift and flags whether the Washington meal and rest timing looks wrong. It does not create a durable approval trail or show whether the same problem repeats across departments.
Teams need a managed workflow when schedules change often, managers approve time, or payroll needs locked records. Everhour Team Management supports team-wide time policy defaults, weekly capacity, approval workflow, lock rules, and admin time correction. That keeps break-related review tied to submitted time instead of scattered notes.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Washington L&I's general meal-and-rest rule applies to most adult non-agricultural employees. Employees under 18 and agricultural workers have different standards, so their breaks should not be calculated from the adult non-agricultural rule alone. Worker category matters before shift length, break timing, or paid-time math.
A Washington meal period may be unpaid only when the employee is free from all duties for the entire break. On-duty meals, on-call-at-the-worksite meals, and interrupted meal periods must be paid in full and count as hours worked. A 30-minute label on a timesheet does not make the deduction valid.
Washington rest-break requirements cannot be waived. Most adult non-agricultural employees must receive a paid, duty-free rest period of at least 10 minutes for every four hours worked. Rest breaks count as hours worked for paid sick leave and overtime calculations, so payroll should keep those minutes in paid time.
Washington allows mini rest breaks in jobs where the nature of the work permits intermittent rest periods. The mini breaks must total at least 10 minutes over each four-hour period. This option does not remove the requirement to provide rest time, and it does not turn paid rest minutes into unpaid time.
Washington workers ages 16 and 17 must receive an uninterrupted 30-minute meal break if they work more than five hours in a day and a 10-minute paid rest break for each four hours worked. Workers under 16 have stricter rules, including a 10-minute rest break for every two hours worked.
Everhour Team Management lets admins set team-wide time policy defaults, weekly capacity, approval workflow, lock rules, and admin time correction. Managers can review submitted time before payroll and protect approved records from later edits, which supports consistent break and hours review.
Use Everhour Team Management to set time policy defaults, approve submitted time, lock reviewed periods, and correct records before payroll, turning break checks into a repeatable Everhour workflow.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
