The meal break looks like the smallest item in a working-time review, yet it often decides whether a schedule complies with the 48-hour limit, whether a shift pattern generates overtime, and whether a global service center in Lima has correctly imported its home-country rules. In Peru, the break is called the refrigerio. It is mandatory, it has a minimum length, it must sit within the working day and, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, it is not counted as working time.
This article explains those rules and their practical effects for employers that run operations in Peru from abroad. It forms part of our guide to working time in Peru.
What the law requires
The rules are split between the consolidated Working Hours Law (D.S. 007-2002-TR) and its regulation (D.S. 008-2002-TR):
- The break must be granted. Article 7 of the Working Hours Law requires the employer to set a meal break.
- It lasts at least 45 minutes. The regulation sets 45 minutes as the minimum. The employer may grant longer.
- It falls within the working day. The break cannot be placed before the start or after the end of the shift. Its purpose is rest and nourishment during work, not a shorter day.
- It is not working time by default. The break does not form part of the working day unless an agreement or custom has established otherwise.
Key point
Peru’s meal break is a minimum of 45 minutes, taken during the shift, and, unless agreed otherwise, outside the hours counted toward the 8-hour daily and 48-hour weekly limit.
Why it matters for the 48-hour ceiling
Because the break is not working time by default, it shapes the arithmetic of every schedule. The table below shows three common patterns.
| Schedule | Break | Treated as working time? | Hours worked per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. | 60 minutes | No | 8.0 |
| 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. | 60 minutes | Yes, by agreement or custom | 9.0 |
| 8:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. | 45 minutes | No | 8.0 |
The second line illustrates a real risk. If a company has historically counted the break as working time, for instance by stating in a collective agreement or long-standing practice that the break is part of the working day, a 9-hour presence means 9 hours worked. Over five days, that is 45 hours; over six, 54 hours, which exceeds the ceiling and generates overtime. Our article on maximum working hours in Peru explains the underlying limit.
When the break is not really a break
The default rule assumes that the employee is free during the break. Where that is not the case, the company should assess the situation carefully. Typical examples:
- A control-room operator who must stay at the console and respond to alarms while eating.
- A security guard who cannot leave the post during the break.
- A customer-service agent who is expected to accept urgent chats during lunch.
- A technician on a remote site who is on call for the whole shift.
In these situations, the time may be regarded as time at the employer’s disposal. The safer approach is either to relieve the employee properly during the break (with a relief rotation) or to treat the break as working time and account for it in the schedule and in any averaging calculation. In rosters used in mining and remote operations, this choice changes the weekly average, as shown in our note on atypical and cumulative work schedules in Peru.
Watch out
Global contact-center or shared-service policies often allow a 30-minute lunch. That is below Peru’s 45-minute minimum. Rolling out such a policy in Lima without adaptation creates a breach that affects the whole team at once.
Meals provided by the employer
Many operations in Peru provide food, particularly on remote sites or in plants with night shifts. How that food is classified matters for payroll cost. Under article 6 of the Productivity and Competitiveness Law, remuneration includes the main meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or a snack that replaces one of them). By contrast, the CTS law lists as non-remunerative items such as a snack that does not constitute a main meal and the cost of working conditions. Food supplied as a working condition in a remote camp is often analyzed under that heading.
The classification affects the base for the CTS severance deposit, the July and December bonuses and severance. We explain the distinction in detail in remunerative and non-remunerative payments in Peru.
Telework and flexible hours
Peru’s Telework Law (Law 31572) and its regulation require employers to adopt mechanisms to record the working day and guarantee digital disconnection, with at least 12 consecutive hours of disconnection in each 24-hour period. The 2026 amendment to the regulation (D.S. 009-2026-TR) also addresses active pauses for teleworkers. A remote employee should therefore have a defined meal break within the scheduled day, and the recording tool should reflect it.
For flexible-hours policies, a practical approach is to define a window in which the break must be taken (for example, between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m.), a minimum of 45 minutes, and a simple way to register it.
Illustrative scenario: a regional service center
Illustrative scenario (hypothetical): A consumer-goods group moves its regional accounts-payable team to a service center in Lima, with 220 employees. The group’s global standard is a 9-hour presence with a 30-minute unpaid lunch, giving 8.5 hours of work per day, five days a week, for a total of 42.5 hours. The standard also says lunch may be skipped during month-end close.
Three issues arise in Peru. The 30-minute break is below the 45-minute minimum. Skipping lunch during close means the employees work through the break, which adds working time and may generate overtime on the affected days. And because the attendance system only records entry and exit, the company cannot show whether breaks were taken.
The local fix: a 45-minute break within a defined window, an entry in the time-recording system to register it, and a close-period rule that allows the break to be moved but not removed. Any additional hours during close are handled through the overtime process explained in overtime in Peru.
Night shifts and rotations
Night shifts raise the same questions with more intensity. A worker on a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. shift still needs a break of at least 45 minutes within the shift, and the break should be scheduled at a point where relief staff are available. Where a canteen is closed at night and the company supplies a meal instead, the classification issue discussed above applies. Night work also carries its own pay floor, explained in night work in Peru; if the break is treated as working time, it counts toward the night hours.
Exposure
Meal-break failures rarely produce large claims on their own, but they compound other issues. A break below 45 minutes or a break that employees must work through is a breach of the working-time rules that SUNAFIL, Peru’s national labor inspection authority, can detect simply by comparing the posted schedule with attendance data and interviews. Where the break turns out to be working time, the added minutes can push schedules above the 48-hour ceiling or increase the overtime owed, and the effect multiplies across every employee on the same shift pattern.
Legal note
Whether the break is part of the working day can be settled by agreement or by custom. A consistent practice over time, such as paying the break as worked hours or listing it inside the counted schedule, may be read as having established that treatment. Changing it later requires care.
Common mistakes
- Adopting a global 30-minute lunch standard in Peru.
- Allowing employees to skip the break and leave early, which the regulation does not contemplate.
- Stating in a contract or collective agreement that the break is “part of the working day” without recalculating weekly hours.
- Requiring availability during the break while treating it as free time.
- Omitting the break from the schedule shown to employees and from the attendance record.
- Providing meals without deciding how they are classified for payroll.
Checklist
- Every shift includes a break of at least 45 minutes within the working day.
- Schedules shown to employees specify when the break is taken and whether it counts as working time.
- Contracts, internal rules and any collective agreement are consistent on the treatment of the break.
- Roles with continuous-presence duties have a relief rotation or treat the break as working time.
- The attendance or time-recording system captures the break, including for teleworkers.
- Meals and food allowances have a documented payroll classification.
Bottom line
The meal break is a short rule with long consequences. The minimum is 45 minutes, taken during the shift, and outside counted hours unless agreed otherwise. For international employers, the main risks are imported standards that fall below the minimum, breaks that are not real breaks, and silent practices that turn the break into working time. Our working time and overtime service reviews schedules and time-recording tools so that breaks are designed, recorded and costed correctly.