MEAL & REST BREAKS
You Have a Legal Right to Take a Break.
Working long hours in any job can be strenuous and exhausting. Breaks play an important role in maintaining the health and well-being of employees. California law requires employers to provide most non-exempt employees with duty-free meal and rest breaks. If you are not able to take compliant breaks, your employer is required to pay you one hour of “premium” wages at your regular rate of pay for each day that a timely, complete, and duty-free meal break was not provided, and an additional hour of pay for each day that a timely, complete, and duty-free rest break was not provided.
California’s meal and rest break laws can generally be summarized as follows:
Meal Breaks
Most non-exempt (i.e., hourly-paid) employees who work more than 5 hours in a shift are entitled to take an unpaid, duty-free meal break. The number of meal breaks an employee is entitled to take depends on the number of hours they work, as follows:
| SHIFT LENGTH | NUMBER OF MEAL BREAKS |
|---|---|
| Less than 5 hours | None |
| More than 5 hours up to 10 hours | 1 Meal Break |
| More than 10 hours up to 15 hours | 2 Meal Breaks |
| More than 15 hours up to 10 hours | 3 Meal Breaks |
Meal breaks cannot be interrupted or cut short. Employers must take steps to ensure that you are relieved of all duty and are free of their control. Employers cannot take actions that directly or indirectly impede, discourage, pressure, or coerce employees from taking meal breaks.
Meal breaks are subject to specific timing requirements. First meal periods must be taken before the end of the fifth hour of work. For example, an employee who begins working at 8:00 a.m. must be provided with the opportunity to take a first meal break no later than 12:59 p.m. Second meal periods must be taken before the end of the tenth hour of work.
Unless an employee is relieved of all duty during a meal break, the meal break is considered “on duty” and must be counted and paid as time worked. California generally prohibits on duty meal periods, unless the nature of the work prevents the employee from being relieved of all duty and the employee agrees in writing to take his or her meal periods while on duty. This is a narrow exception. One example of a job position that might be permitted to take on-duty meal periods is a security guard posted at a remote site.
Rest Breaks
Most non-exempt employees are entitled to take an uninterrupted, paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof. The number of rest breaks an employee is entitled to take is as follows:
| SHIFT LENGTH | NUMBER OF REST BREAKS |
|---|---|
| Less than 3.5 hours | None |
| More than 3.5 hours up to 6 hours | 1 Rest Break |
| More than 6 hours up to 10 hours | 2 Rest Breaks |
| More than 10 hours up to 14 hours | 3 Rest Breaks |
| More than 14 hours up to 18 hours | 4 Rest Breaks |
| More than 18 hours up to 22 hours | 5 Rest Breaks |
To the extent practicable, rest periods should be provided in the middle of each 4-hour work period. If you work a shift qualifying for 2 rest breaks, your rest breaks should be separately scheduled so that one is provided before your meal break and one is provided afterwards.
Rest breaks cannot be interrupted, cut short, or combined with other break periods. Employers must completely relieve employees of all duty during their rest breaks – this means your employer cannot require you to stay on-site, monitor a radio or cell phone, or respond to any questions or perform any work-related tasks whatsoever while you are on your break.
COMMON ABUSIVE BREAK PRACTICES
There are several ways employers can violate employees’ rights to take meal and rest breaks. Sometime, abusive employers will outright prohibit employees from taking breaks. However, most employers are savvy enough to avoid such overtly illegal practices. More often, employers implement subtle practices that prohibit employees from taking all breaks to which they are legally entitled. Some examples of practices that may violate California’s break laws are:
Requiring employees to clock-out for meal periods and continue working
Requiring employees to sign certifications that they received meal and rest breaks even if they did not
Imposing unreasonable workloads, quotas, and/or performance expectations that make it impossible for employees to take meal and rest breaks and still complete their work
Falsifying time records to hide evidence that meal breaks were missed, late, interrupted, or cut short
Requiring employees to monitor cell phones, radios, pagers, or other communication devices during meal and rest breaks
Implementing attendance policies that penalize employees who are even slightly tardy when returning from meal and rest breaks
Prohibiting employees from leaving the jobsite during meal or rest breaks
Combining meal and rest breaks
Requiring employees to respond to work-related questions during meal and rest breaks
Requiring employees to assist customers during breaks
Creating labor budgets that make it impossible for supervisors to maintain the level of staffing needed to relieve employees for meal and rest breaks
Utilizing bell systems that require employees to return to their workstations before they have taken a full meal or rest break
Requiring employees to don and doff protective gear during their meal and rest breaks
California’s meal and rest break laws are extensive, and there are certain classifications of employees who are exempt from the general requirements discussed above. For this reason, it is important to seek legal advice from an experienced attorney who can help you fully understand your rights and options. The attorneys at Parker & Minne have helped thousands of California workers recover compensation for unlawful meal and rest break practices. If you believe you have experienced meal and/or rest break violations, we are here to help. Call us today for a free consultation.