The meal break under the Labour Code: who is entitled, how long it lasts and whether it counts as working time

How long does the meal break last, does it count towards the eight hours, and is it paid? The Labour Code answers only some of these questions: it sets the threshold from which the right to a break arises and the break for minors, and sends the rest (length, inclusion in the schedule) to the collective labour agreement and the internal rules. An unwritten rule is hard to defend in a dispute or at an inspection, so it is worth settling from the start. This article goes through what the law says, what is left to the company’s discretion and how to apply the rule in practice, including in your time records.

What the law says: art. 134 in brief

Article 134 of the Labour Code has three paragraphs, and almost everything that matters is in them:

Paragraph	What it provides
(1)	If the daily duration of working time is more than 6 hours, the employee is entitled to a meal break and to other breaks, under the conditions set by the applicable collective labour agreement (CLA) or by the internal rules (ROI).
(2)	Young people under 18 get a meal break of at least 30 minutes if the daily duration of working time exceeds 4.5 hours.
(3)	Breaks are not included in the normal daily duration of working time, unless the CLA or the ROI provides otherwise.

A few clarifications that save confusion:

• “More than 6 hours” means strictly over 6. A schedule of exactly 6 hours of work does not trigger the legal right to a break; 6 hours and 30 minutes does. What counts is working time, not time spent on the premises.
• The right can’t be negotiated downwards. Employees cannot waive rights granted by law, and any arrangement that limits them is void (art. 38). A clause like “you work without a break, but you get paid more” risks falling at the first dispute.
• A break is a rest period. The Code defines rest as any period that is not working time (art. 133), and working time as any period in which the employee performs work, is at the employer’s disposal and carries out their tasks and duties (art. 111 para. 1). A real break therefore means an employee free of duties.
• European law has the same structure: a break when the day exceeds 6 hours, with the details left to collective agreements or national legislation.

How long is the break? For adults, the law doesn’t say

The Labour Code sets no minimum or maximum length of the break for adult employees. The only figure in the text concerns minors: 30 minutes, when they work more than 4.5 hours. For other employees, the length is set by the applicable CLA or by the ROI; the exception is mobile road transport staff falling under Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 or the AETR Agreement (see below). If a CLA does not already impose it, you choose it yourself, in the ROI.

If you’ve heard that adults are entitled to a minimum of 30 or 45 minutes depending on the length of the day: those figures are not in the Labour Code. They appear in a special regulation, for staff performing mobile road transport activities that fall under Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 or the AETR Agreement (Government Decision 38/2008, art. 2 para. 1, see below). Otherwise, they matter if you wrote them into your ROI or if a CLA that applies to your company provides them, for example one at sector level. So first check whether your company falls under such an agreement.

The law’s wording, “meal break and other breaks”, leaves room for short breaks in addition to the main one. In the ROI you can provide for a single break or several split ones.

Does the break count towards the 8 hours? Is it paid?

The general rule, from para. (3): the break is not included in the normal daily duration of working time. A schedule of 8 hours of work with a 30-minute break therefore means 8 hours and 30 minutes from arrival to departure. The exception: the CLA or the ROI may provide that the break, in whole or in part, is included in the 8 hours.

The law does not use the words “paid” or “unpaid”. The consequence follows from how salary works, as the consideration for work performed (art. 159 para. 1): time that is not work is not remunerated separately, whereas a break included in the 8-hour schedule is covered by the salary because it is part of it. The difference is felt most with employees on an hourly rate.

Two examples of a schedule, both lawful if written down and applied consistently:

	Example A: the break is not included	Example B: the break is included
Posted schedule	08:30–17:00	08:00–16:00
Break	30 minutes (12:30–13:00)	30 minutes (12:30–13:00)
Time on the premises	8 hours 30 minutes	8 hours
Working time	8 hours	8 hours
What goes in the ROI/CLA	The rule in para. (3) applies by itself, but it is worth writing down	That the break is included in working time

What is not acceptable is the “leave it unsaid” approach: the contract says 8 hours, the posted schedule says 08:00–17:00, the time record shows 9 hours, and nobody knows whether the lunch hour was included or not. Keep four things aligned: the ROI, the normal duration of work in the contract (expressed in hours per day and/or per week, art. 17 para. 3 letter l), the schedule posted at the premises (art. 117) and the time record.

A practical consequence: a break that is not included is not work, so it does not generate overtime. Someone who spends 9 hours on the premises with a one-hour break has worked 8. Conversely, minutes actually worked during the break, at the employer’s request, are working time and must appear in the record. For the calculation, see our guide to overtime.

Short breaks and the smoking break

The Labour Code has no coffee or smoking break with a regime of its own: they fall under the “other breaks” of art. 134 para. (1), so their length and whether they count as working time are again set by the CLA or the ROI (the same rule in para. 3). What doesn’t work is unwritten tolerance: some colleagues step out four times a day, others never, and at the end of the month nobody knows whether the breaks were counted in the hours. Choose a rule and write it down: how many short breaks, how long they last, whether they count towards the schedule.

Breaks with a separate legal basis

• Screen work. For employees who habitually use display screen equipment for a significant part of their working time, the employer must plan tasks so that daily screen use is interrupted periodically by breaks or changes of activity (Government Decision 1028/2006, art. 8). The decision does not set a length and also allows the option of a change of activity, which remains work.
• Breastfeeding. Employees who are breastfeeding (with written notice to the employer and medical documents) are entitled to two one-hour breaks during the working day, until the child turns one, or, at the mother’s request, to a reduction of the working day by two hours. The time counts as working time, does not reduce pay and is borne entirely by the employer’s payroll fund (Emergency Ordinance 96/2003, art. 17).
• Road transport. For staff performing mobile road transport activities that fall under Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 or the AETR Agreement (art. 2 para. 1), Government Decision 38/2008 (art. 5) requires breaks of at least 30 minutes if total working time is between 6 and 9 hours and of at least 45 minutes above 9 hours, which may be split into periods of at least 15 minutes; nobody works more than 6 consecutive hours without a break. Driving time and driving breaks also follow Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. If your drivers work outside that scope (for example small vans used domestically, or other cases exempted from the Regulation), the general rule remains the one in the CLA or the ROI; first check whether their activity falls under the Regulation.

Can an employee leave during the break? What “at the employer’s disposal” means

The Labour Code does not say expressly whether an employee may leave the premises during the break. The answer follows by interpretation from the definitions above: the break is rest, so time that is not work, while an employee who stays at the employer’s disposal, ready to respond at any moment, comes close to the definition of working time. In a real break, therefore, the employee spends their time as they wish. The ROI can set reasonable rules, for example leaving through a specific point of a controlled-access perimeter, or handing the post over to a colleague before leaving where the post cannot be left uncovered. What it cannot do is empty the break of its meaning.

The risk arises with the “break at the desk” model: the employee eats at the computer, answers the phone and is called back when something urgent comes up. A break organised like that can be challenged as working time. If the post requires continuous presence (reception, dispatch, a shop), the right solution is rotation: staggered breaks, with someone taking over the post.

The break by type of schedule

Situation	What applies
Full time, 8 hours	Over 6 hours, so the right to a break exists. Its length and whether it counts as working time are set by the CLA or the ROI.
Part-time, 4 hours	Below the threshold: the law gives no right to a meal break. The ROI may still provide short breaks.
Part-time, exactly 6 hours	Still below the threshold, because the duration is not “more than 6 hours”.
Part-time, 7 hours	Over 6 hours: the right to a break exists.
12-hour shifts	The law does not set a break length here either; the CLA or the ROI does. A day of 12 hours of work is followed by 24 hours of rest (art. 115 para. 2).
Drivers in road transport covered by Reg. (EC) 561/2006 or the AETR	Legal minimums exist only for this staff: breaks of at least 30 minutes at 6–9 hours of work and at least 45 minutes above 9 hours, which may be split into periods of at least 15 minutes (Government Decision 38/2008, art. 5). For drivers outside that scope, the general rule remains the one in the CLA or the ROI.
Young people under 18	At least 30 minutes, when they work more than 4.5 hours. Their working time is 6 hours a day and 30 a week (art. 112 para. 2), so a 6-hour day exceeds the threshold.

Part-time. Part-time doesn’t mean a shorter break, but a threshold that may no longer be reached. What counts is the daily duration: with an unevenly distributed contract, a 7-hour day gives the right to a break and a 4-hour day does not. On the contract itself, see our guide to the part-time employment contract.

Shifts and night work. The break belongs to each shift, and the rule in para. (3) applies in the same way. Night work is work performed between 22:00 and 06:00 (art. 125 para. 1), so a break that is not included in working time is not work and does not count towards night hours. If the ROI or CLA includes the break in working time, state explicitly how it is treated for night hours and the night bonus. See night work. Don’t confuse the break with the rest between shifts (next section); for rosters, see the guide to shift planning.

Remote work. A teleworker has the same rights as an employee at the company’s premises (Law 81/2018, art. 6 para. 1), so the right to a break as well. They organise their schedule together with the employer, within the framework of the contract, the ROI and the CLA (art. 4 para. 1), and the contract must specify how working hours are recorded (art. 5 para. 2 letter e). In practice: the same break rule as in the office, written into the ROI, plus a clear way of recording it remotely. More in the article on telework and work from home.

Break, daily rest and weekly rest: three different things

	Meal break	Daily rest	Weekly rest
When	During the working day	Between two working days	Every week
Length	Not fixed for adults; set by the CLA or the ROI (minors: at least 30 minutes)	At least 12 consecutive hours; in shift work, at least 8 hours between shifts	48 consecutive hours, as a rule Saturday and Sunday
Article	134	135	137
Counts as working time?	As a rule no	No	No

For daily rest, EU law sets a minimum of 11 hours. The Labour Code is more favourable as a general rule (12 hours); the 8-hour exception applies only to shift work. The lunch break is not added to the rest between days and does not replace it. For the normal duration of working time, the weekly maximum and the other scheduling rules, see the guide to working hours under the Labour Code.

How to record the break in your time records

Art. 119 para. (1) requires a record of the hours worked each day by each employee, with the start and end time of the working day, kept at the workplace and made available to inspectors. It does not expressly require you to record the break too. But if the break is not part of working time, the record must make it possible to see how many hours of work were actually performed: otherwise the interval 08:30–17:00 can mean 8 hours or 8 and a half, depending on who reads it.

Three models used in practice (pick one for each post or team):

1. Fixed break, built into the schedule. The schedule specifies the length (for example 30 minutes) and the time record deducts it automatically from the clocked time. Suitable when breaks are similar for everyone.
2. Break clocked in practice. The employee marks leaving for the break and coming back, which calls for a time-clock system with several entries and exits per day. Suitable when breaks are variable or staggered.
3. Break included in working time. Nothing is deducted; the rule is in the ROI or CLA, and the time record shows the full schedule.

Whichever you choose, write it into the ROI and apply it identically in the posted schedule, in the time record and in payroll. The classic mistakes: deducting the break for everyone even though some worked through it; not deducting it even though the ROI says it isn’t included; eyeballed rounding. You’ll find them detailed in the guide to time sheet mistakes, and on the record-keeping duty in general in the article on employee time tracking. If you still keep records on paper, our free attendance register template (a document in Romanian) has a dedicated column for the meal break.

What ITM checks and what the risks are

The Labour Inspectorate checks the application of the rules on employment relations (art. 237). For breaks, in practice, that means three documents that must say the same thing: the schedule communicated to employees and posted at the premises (art. 117), the ROI brought to each employee’s attention, with proof that they received it (art. 243), and the record of hours (art. 119). The list of documents requested during an inspection is in the article on documents needed for an ITM inspection.

Art. 260 para. (1) of the Labour Code does not provide an offence dedicated specifically to failing to grant the meal break. That doesn’t mean there is no risk:

• breaching the duty to keep a record of hours (art. 119) is punishable by a fine of 1,500 to 3,000 lei (letter m);
• including in the individual employment contract clauses that are contrary to the law carries its own fine, of 2,000 to 5,000 lei (letter d), and a clause that would exclude the break an employee is entitled to would be contrary to the law;
• breaching the rules on night work, weekly rest or overtime carries separate fines (letters l, j and i).

The amounts are those in force at the date of publication; check the consolidated text before making a decision. In addition, a time record that does not match the ROI is an argument the other side can easily use in a dispute over hours worked.

How to write the rule into the ROI

The ROI is drawn up by the employer after consulting the trade union or employee representatives (art. 241), and takes effect for each employee from the moment they become aware of it (art. 243); any amendment goes through the same notification (art. 244). For breaks, a good ROI states:

• the length of the main break, the window in which it is taken, whether it counts as working time and whether it can be split, with staggering on posts that cannot be left uncovered;
• which short breaks exist (how many, how long, whether they count);
• what regime applies to minors, employees who are breastfeeding and other categories with special rights;
• how the break is recorded in time tracking (fixed, clocked or included) and what rules on leaving the perimeter apply, if security reasons require them.

The full guide to the content of the rules is in the article on the internal rules of procedure.

Frequently asked questions

How long must the meal break be?

The Labour Code sets no length for adults; it is set by the applicable CLA or the ROI. For young people under 18, at least 30 minutes when they work more than 4.5 hours. Exception: in mobile road transport falling under Reg. (EC) No 561/2006 or the AETR, Government Decision 38/2008 requires breaks of at least 30 minutes at 6–9 hours of work and at least 45 minutes above 9 hours.

Is the meal break paid?

The law declares it neither paid nor unpaid. The rule in art. 134 para. (3) is that the break is not part of normal working time, so it is not remunerated as time worked, unless the CLA or the ROI provides that it is included; when it is included, it is covered by the salary.

Does the break count towards the 8 hours?

As a rule no: 8 hours of work with a 30-minute break means 8 hours and 30 minutes on the premises, unless the CLA or the ROI provides otherwise.

My schedule is 6 hours. Am I entitled to a break?

The law grants it only above 6 hours a day, so at exactly 6 hours the legal right is not triggered. The ROI may still provide breaks.

Can I leave the company during the break?

The law doesn’t say expressly. If the break is real, the employee is free of duties, and the ROI can impose reasonable rules (security, handing over the post). If the employee is asked to stay at their post, the break can be challenged as working time.

What happens if someone works during the break?

The minutes actually worked are working time and must appear in the record; the right to a break is not lost by agreement (art. 38). If it keeps happening, reorganise the post with staggered breaks.

Is the smoking break paid?

It has no separate regime: it falls under “other breaks” in art. 134 para. (1), so the ROI or the CLA decides whether it counts as working time. Without a provision to the contrary, breaks are not included (para. 3).

How do I show the break in the time record?

The law requires the start and end time of the working day; how you record the break depends on the rule in your ROI. What matters is that the time record, the posted schedule and payroll say the same thing.

How Workly helps

The rule is yours to set, in the ROI or CLA; Workly applies it, it does not invent it. In Workly time tracking you configure shifts, night schedules, part-time, breaks and time-off-in-lieu balances. The break is set on each employee’s record, with defaults per norm, and is deducted automatically from the clocked time; the timesheet shows clocked time, break and hours worked separately. At companies that enable the option, the employee can tick, when punching out in the app, that they worked without a break that day, and the break is then no longer deducted from that day. The attendance register and the collective attendance sheet are generated from time tracking, and changes stay in the history, ready to show at an inspection. Whether the break counts towards the schedule or not remains, however, an internal policy decision for the company.

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Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The rules on breaks depend on the applicable collective agreement and on the company’s internal rules — check the framework in force (the Romanian Labour Code) or consult a specialist.