[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR548.304]

[Page 210-211]
 
                             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

[[Page 211]]

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\ 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]