Employers in New York State must provide certain employees with at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in any calendar week. Employee meal breaks are required to be at least 30 minutes if an employee works six hours anywhere throughout New York state.Employees are entitled to a 45-minute break for shifts more than 6 consecutive hours that begin between 1 p.m. Must an employer give meal periods and "breaks" to workers? Employees who: Work a shift of more than six hours starting before 11 AM. AND. In the US, a salaried employee has no legal rights to any breaks no matter how long they've worked unless it is in your employment contract. For instance, if an employer chooses to offer short breaks, the employee must be paid for breaks of up to 20 minutes. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, federal law considers short breaks (520 minutes) as compensable work hours, thus paid. State law requires a paid 10 minute break every 4 hours of work and an unpaid 30 minute meal break every 5 hours of work. Rest breaks are not required, but all breaks 20 minutes or less must be compensated as hours worked.