Many people are not aware that scheduled lunch breaks are not required by an employer at the federal level. Actually, employees are not entitled a scheduled lunch break and two short morning and afternoon breaks under the Lunch Break Law. There are federal labor laws which require an employer to do certain things for their employees but providing lunch breaks is not one of them. However, there are state laws and sometimes even city laws that an employer must follow. Under the lunch break law, or meal law, most states require employers to provide one half hour lunch break per 6-8 period of work. Most of the time, states complying with the Lunch Break Law will pay for half of the lunch time if it is an hour; the other half hour is not paid. However, some employers will actually pay for the whole hour of lunch.