Big Lots workers may be owed pay for short breaks, DOL says

Short breaks of about five to 20 minutes are generally compensable working time under federal law, and employers are not required to offer lunch or coffee breaks at all. For Big Lots workers, that distinction can determine whether a stop at the register, a quick freight pull, or a manager’s interruption turns break time into paid time.

Federal break rules distinguish short rest breaks from true meal periods. Brief breaks are usually paid. A meal period can be unpaid only if the employee is fully relieved from duty, which means the worker is not expected to keep an eye on customers, answer a phone, or continue stocking while “off the clock.” If a break is regularly cut short by customer traffic, freight, or instructions from a supervisor, that interruption belongs in the record.

Big Lots spent much of 2024 in bankruptcy. Big Lots filed Chapter 11 on September 9, 2024, saying it had more than 1,300 stores in 48 states and about 27,700 employees. The chain had already started closing nearly 300 stores by then. The sale process moved ahead after that, and the Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of Big Lots assets on January 2, 2025.

Ohio does not require adult workers to receive meal or rest breaks, so federal wage rules and store policy often fill the gap.

Workers who think a break was mishandled need a simple paper trail: the date, the length of the break, and what was happening when it was interrupted. Those details can help show whether the time was a paid short break, an unpaid meal period, or work time that should have counted toward the paycheck and overtime calculations.