[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR548.304]

[Page 257-258]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 548_AUTHORIZATION OF ESTABLISHED BASIC RATES FOR COMPUTING OVERTIME 
PAY--Table of Contents
 
                        Subpart B_Interpretations
 
Sec. 548.304  Excluding value of lunches furnished.

    (a) Section 548.3(d) authorizes as established basic rates:

    The rate or rates which may be used under the Act to compute 
overtime compensation of the employee but excluding the cost of meals 
where the employer customarily furnishes not more than a single meal per 
day.

    (b) It is the purpose of Sec. 548.3(d) to permit the employer upon 
agreement with his employees to omit from the computation of overtime 
the cost of a free daily lunch or other single daily meal furnished to 
the employees. The policy behind Sec. 548.3(d) is derived from the 
Administrator's experience that the amount of additional overtime 
compensation involved in such cases is trivial and does not justify the 
bookkeeping required in computing it. Section 548.3(d) is applicable 
only in cases where the employer customarily furnishes no more than a 
single meal a day. If more than one meal a day is customarily furnished 
by the employer all such meals must be taken into account in computing 
the regular rate of pay and the overtime compensation due. \12\ In a 
situation where the employer furnishes three meals a day to his 
employees he may not, under Sec. 548.3(d), omit one of the three meals 
in computing overtime compensation. However, if an employer furnishes a 
free lunch every day and, in addition, occasionally pays ``supper 
money'' \13\

[[Page 258]]

when the employees work overtime, the cost of the lunches and the supper 
money may both be excluded from the overtime rates.
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    \12\ See Sec. 531.37 of this chapter.
    \13\ See Sec. 778.217(b)(4) of this chapter.

[20 FR 5682, Aug. 6, 1955, as amended at 21 FR 338, Jan. 18, 1956]