California rest and meal break law
For employers in California, rest and meal break compliance remains the source of a lot of litigation. It is therefore very important to understand the state’s rest and meal break requirements.
To comply with state laws, employers must do all they can to express the legal mandates of employee break laws in California to nonexempt workers. They must also give them chances to take rest and meal breaks. For employers with questions on nuances in employment law, please get in touch with our employment law attorney for employers concerning California law on rest breaks and lunch breaks.
California meal break obligations
An employer cannot have an employee work more than five straight hours without supplying an off-duty, unpaid meal period of 30 minutes minimum. The first meal period needs to be given by the end of the fifth hour and no later.
A source of significant litigation in state and federal courts has been the issue of whether employers must simply provide breaks or ensure they are used. That said, the California Supreme Court ruled on employer rest and meal break duties in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v Superior Court. This was the court’s most important decision on the issue of rest and meal break requirements.
It was decided that an employer satisfies their legal duty to provide an off duty break to employees if they:
- Relieve employees of duties.
- Give up control over employees’ activities.
- Permits employees an opportunity to take a 30-minute, uninterrupted break.
- Does not discourage or impede employees from doing so.
That is to say, employers are not obligated to ensure their workers take their meal breaks. After the meal period has been supplied, there is no duty to watch over meal breaks to ensure no work is being performed.
A meal break may be unpaid only if the previous conditions are fulfilled.
When a work period of no greater than six hours will finish the day’s work, the employer and employee may mutually agree to waive the meal break.
Second 30-minute meal break
An employer is required to supply a second meal break of at least 30 minutes for all days on which the employee works in excess of 10 hours. The second meal break needs to be given no later than an employee’s tenth hour of work.
A worker has the right to waive their second meal break if the following conditions are fulfilled:
- There is mutual consent between the employer and employee.
- The total hours worked that day do not exceed 12.
- The first meal break of the day was not waived.
On-duty meal breaks
Employees are permitted to take on-duty meal breaks in specific circumstances. An on-duty meal break has to fulfill the following requirements:
- Allowed only when the kind of work stops a worker from being relieved of duty.
- Must be consented to in writing by both employer and employee.
- Must be compensated.
- May be revoked at any time by the employee in writing (the exception being Wage Order 14, Agricultural Occupations).
Note: It is recommended that employers consult with an employment lawyer prior to authorizing on-duty meal breaks. These only apply in specific situations.
10 minute rest break duties
Employers are required to allow and authorize uninterrupted rest periods for all nonexempt workers who work a minimum of 3.5 hours. Such mandatory rest periods need to be offered every four hours of work and must be ten minutes in duration.
In general, the rest break should be in the middle of each four-hour segment. This means that in an eight-hour workday, a rest period will fall on either side of the lunch break. However, there is no requirement to allow a rest period prior to the lunch break.
In the Brinker case, the court ruled that the general rule may be altered in accordance with shorter or longer shifts that make scheduling impracticable. Employers are granted some latitude, allowing them to deviate from the ideal course when it is infeasible.
Employers should be careful when it comes to departing from the general rule, however. If they cannot provide rest periods in the middle of each work segment, they should speak with a lawyer. The attorney can advise them on industry standards and whether a departure from the rule is permissible.
Employers are required to treat rest periods as worked hours. In the case Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., it was ruled that employers must relieve workers from all duties during rest periods. Also, employers have no say in how employees use their break time. In some industries, there are exceptions (ambulance personnel and petroleum industry jobs).
What are the consequences for not providing rest and meal breaks?
If California employers violate meal and rest break laws, there are serious consequences. Courts have sanctioned increasingly heavy fines.
Missed meal break
For each day where an employee was denied a meal break, they are owed one additional hour of pay at the regular rate. This hour of pay is an owed wage. An employee has up to three years to file a claim for unpaid wages.
Missed rest break
If a rest break is interrupted or not provided, an employer owes the employee one hour of pay at the regular rate. This must be included in the following paycheck.
Missed rest and meal periods
There is a debate over the premium wage an employer owes a worker after not providing a rest and meal break in a single day. Because there were technically two violations, is it two hours of owed pay?
A California Court of Appeal ruled in United Parcel Service v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County that it is two hours of compensation. There are two distinct remedies since the premium wage requirement is contained in two different parts of the Wage Orders.
Rest and meal breaks should be paid according to the worker’s regular rate of pay. This is the same rate used for overtime pay. The regular rate of pay could be more than the worker’s hourly rate. The rate should be computed so that it includes all pay received during the week, including base hourly wages, nondiscretionary bonuses, and commissions.
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