Did Texas cities with more than 10,000 residents have to give police officers a thirty-minute meal break?

Texas AG Opinion JM-854: Police Meal Break Pay

Plain-English summary

A Texas senator asked whether a city with more than 10,000 residents had to give police officers at least a thirty-minute meal break during their work period.

The Attorney General concluded that House Bill No. 2250 did not require the city to provide that break. The legislation defined compensable work time and explained when a meal period could be excluded from paid hours.

A bona fide meal period was ordinarily thirty minutes or more, although a shorter period could qualify under special conditions. Coffee breaks and snack time did not count as bona fide meal periods.

Duration was not the only issue. An officer had to be completely relieved of duty for the purpose of eating a regular meal. If the officer had to perform active or inactive duties while eating, the entire period counted as compensable work time regardless of its length.

The opinion also noted that wages, hours, and working conditions could be subjects of negotiation under the Fire and Police Employee Relations Act where that law had been adopted.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1988. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did the statute guarantee officers a thirty-minute meal period?

No. The opinion said the thirty-minute language helped distinguish paid work time from a bona fide unpaid meal period.

Was every meal period under thirty minutes compensable?

Generally yes, although the statute allowed a shorter period to qualify under special conditions.

What if the officer had to monitor a radio or perform other duties while eating?

The opinion said any active or inactive duty meant the officer was not fully relieved, so the period counted as work time.

Did coffee breaks or snack time count as meal periods?

No. The quoted statute excluded them from the definition of bona fide meal periods.

Could collective bargaining address meal periods?

The opinion noted that wages, hours, working conditions, and other employment terms were negotiable under the Fire and Police Employee Relations Act where adopted.

Background and statutory framework

House Bill No. 2250 amended former article 1269p during the same legislative session in which that article was repealed and recodified as Local Government Code section 142.001. Government Code section 311.031(c) preserved the amendment despite the same-session recodification.

Section 142.001 and the amendment addressed hours and compensation for firefighters and police officers in cities over 10,000 population. Subsections (j) and (k) set maximum weekly hours and compensation or leave for overtime.

House Bill No. 2250 added a detailed definition of compensable hours. It covered duty time on city premises, closely related pre-shift and post-shift activities, and time away from city premises when restrictions prevented effective personal use.

For meal periods, the amendment tracked the distinction between a bona fide period and work time. The opinion read that language as a compensation rule rather than a break mandate.

Citations

Statutory materials:

• House Bill No. 2250, Acts 1987, 70th Legislature, chapter 933
• Local Government Code section 142.001(j), (k)
• Government Code section 311.031(c)
• Former V.T.C.S. articles 1269p and 5154c-1

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-854
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0854.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Obvious character-level OCR errors have been corrected, but minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

February 8, 1988

Honorable Ray Farabee Opinion No. JM-854
Chairman
State Affairs Committee Re: Whether a city of more
Texas State Senate than 10,000 inhabitants is
P.O. Box 12068 required to grant a minimum
Austin, Texas 78711 30-minute meal break to
police officers (RQ-1231)

Dear Senator Farabee:

You ask whether a city having a population in excess of 10,000 is required to give its police officers at least a thirty minute meal break during their work period. Your question is prompted by language found in House Bill No. 2250, enacted during the regular session of the 70th Legislature (Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 933, at 6272). House Bill No. 2250 amended article 1269p, V.T.C.S. This article was also repealed and recodified during the same legislative session as section 142.001 of the Local Government Code. Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, at 1397, 1721 and 2545. The repeal of a statute in a recodification does not affect an amendment to that statute by the same legislature. See Gov't Code § 311.031(c). Therefore, any language found in House Bill No. 2250 that is inconsistent with or in addition to language in the recodification will be preserved and given effect.

Both House Bill No. 2250 and section 142.001 of the Local Government Code relate to the hours of labor of firefighters and police officers in cities with a population in excess of 10,000 inhabitants. The statutes provide details for determining the number of hours to be worked and the rate of pay for certain employees. Subsections (j) and (k) of section 142.001 (formerly section 6A of article 1269p) provide: (1) the maximum number of hours that a police officer may be required to work during a calendar week; and (2) the officer's entitlement to compensatory pay or compensatory leave for overtime worked.

In House Bill No. 2250, the legislature specified the time to be taken into account in determining an officer's compensation. Section 2 of the bill amended section 6A of article 1269p, V.T.C.S., by adding the following language:

Compensable hours of work includes all of the time during which a policeman is on duty on the city's premises or at a prescribed workplace, as well as all other time during which the policeman is suffered or permitted to work for the city. Such time includes all preshift activities and postshift activities which are an integral part of the policeman's principal activity or which are closely related to the performance of the principal activity. Time spent away from the city's premises under conditions that are so circumscribed that they restrict the policeman from effectively using the time for personal pursuits also constitutes hours of work. Bona fide meal periods are not worktime. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks. The policeman must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals. Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long enough under special conditions. The policeman is not relieved if he is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. (Emphasis added.)¹

The purpose of the reference to meal periods is unambiguous; if the period is not to be considered as compensable worktime, then the officer must be relieved of all official duties, and the period must generally meet or exceed thirty minutes. In providing the thirty minute guideline, the legislature is providing a guide to cities to distinguish between compensable and noncompensable time. As we read the above-quoted language, there is no requirement for a city to provide a thirty minute meal break. There is a requirement that a city include meal breaks of less than thirty minutes in its calculation of an officer's pay. An exception is provided for special conditions. Also, the language requires any meal period, regardless of duration, to be considered worktime unless the police officer is fully relieved of his duties for the purpose of eating a regular meal.

We note that article 5154c-1, V.T.C.S. (the Fire and Police Employee Relations Act), may be relevant to your inquiry. This statute authorizes collective bargaining for firefighters and police officers in cities, towns, and other political subdivisions which adopt the provisions of the statute. "Wages, hours, working conditions and all other terms and conditions of employment" are subject to negotiation under this statute. Sec. 5(a).

SUMMARY

House Bill No. 2250 does not require a city with a population in excess of 10,000 inhabitants to provide its police officers a minimum meal period of thirty minutes. If a police officer is not fully relieved of his duties for the purpose of eating a regular meal, a meal period is considered compensable work time.

MARY KELLER
First Assistant Attorney General

LOU McCREARY
Executive Assistant Attorney General

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Karen C. Gladney
Assistant Attorney General