Not all states require lunch periods. Minors under 16 must have breaks per federal and some state laws.
California, Colorado, CT (does not apply to educational institutions), Delaware (with exemptions), Illinois, Ky, ME, MA, MN, NE, Nevada (employee may forfeit), NH (unless employee can eat while working, NM, NY , ND, OR, PA (farmworkers and minors), PR , RI (excludes health care or employer with fewer than 3 employees), TN, VT, WA, WV (unless employees can work while eating), and WI have meal provisions with some exceptions for adults.
The following states either have no law covering meal periods or they only have one for minors under 16.
AZ, AR, DC, FL, GA, HI, ID, IN, IA, KS, MD, MI, MS, MO, MT, NJ, NC, OH, PA (only minors and Farmworkers), SC, SD, TX, UT, VA, WY.
There is no federal law for Lunch periods or breaks unless you are under 16 and under the Child Labor Laws.
This is from the FLSA Website:
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Overtime -- The Online Wages, Hours and Overtime Pay Resource
With only a few exceptions, all time an employee is required to be at the premises of the employer is work time. All regular shift time is work time. This includes "breaks" (if there are breaks), and "nonproductive" time (for example, time spent by a receptionist reading a novel while waiting for the phone to ring). In addition, all time spent by an employee performing work-related activities that the employer suffers or permits is work time, whether on premises or not and whether "required" or not. Work done "at home" or at a place other than the normal work site is work, and the time must be counted. "Voluntary" work is work, and the time must be counted. "Unauthorized" or "unapproved" work is work and must be counted (provided that the employer knows or should know it is being done and permits the employee to do it). It is the privilege and responsibility of the employer to "control the work" of its employees. If an employer does not wish an employee to perform work, it must prohibit the employee from doing so if it does not wish to include that work time in the required FLSA pay computations. An employer may not accept the benefit(s) of work performed by its nonexempt employees without counting the time in computing pay due under the FLSA. Important FLSA regulations on these points are at 29 CFR §§785.11, 785.12, and 785.13.
The statute is listed after the points. It is the DOL stand that if the employee works he must be paid. If the employer doesn't want him to work that he must make sure he does not. This is the supervisor's job, tell the employee to go to lunch and make sure he does or if he works through lunch send him home early.
If an employee works through lunch and files a complaint with DOL I can almost guarantee that he will be paid for the time.
Shirley