Meal and Rest Periods

Meal and Rest Break Periods

Under California law, if you are a non-exempt worker, meaning you are paid by the hour, you are entitled to meal and rest breaks. Specifically, you are entitled to a 30 minute meal break if you work more than 5 hours in a workday, and one 10 minutes break for a shift lasting 3.5 to 6 hours and second 10 minute break if your shift lasts between 6 and 10 hours. The 10 minutes breaks are paid time, but the 30 minute meal break is unpaid as long as you are completely free of all employment related duties during the break, otherwise it should be paid time. In other words if you work a job from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. you are entitled to a 10 minute break in the morning, a 30 minute unpaid meal break and a 10 minute break in the afternoon.

If your employer doesn’t comply with break requirements, they may be required to pay you one extra hour of regular pay for each day on which a meal period or rest break violation occurred. California Courts have held that an employer is liable for one hour of pay for missed breaks and an additional hour of pay for missed meals, that is two additional hours of paid time for every day an employer denies an employee rest breaks and a meal period in the same day. See United Parcel Service v. Superior Court (published 6/2/2011)

Important Rest Break Details

(1) A rest break is at least 10 consecutive minutes. Rest breaks are paid time.
(2) If you work at least 3.5 hours in a day, you are entitled to a rest break; you are entitled to a second rest break if you work more than six hours.
(3) Rest breaks must to the extent possible be in the middle of each work period.
(4) Your boss may require you to remain on work premises during your rest break; but you cannot be required to work during any required rest break.
(5) *** You are free to skip your rest break provided your boss isn’t encouraging or forcing you to.   The California Supreme Court has decided that employers do not have to ensure that their employees take rest periods; employer only need provide make them available to employees. See Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 C.4th 1004.


Important Meal Period Details

(1) If you work over five hours in a day, you are entitled to an unpaid meal period of at least 30 minutes the meal period must begin by the end of the fifth hour;
(2) An employee can, if they wish, agree with their employer to an "on-duty" meal break which counts as time worked and is paid. If you do agree to an on-duty meal period, it must be written down and signed by you and an employer representative.
(3) Your employer has an affirmative obligation to ensure you are free to take your meal break, including leaving the premises if you want to leave, however they do not have to "police" their employees to make sure the meal period is taken;
(4) Your boss has an affirmative obligation to ensure you are actually relieved of all duty and are not performing any work during meal breaks.

Please note that there are some exceptions to the above rules for certain industries, including drivers,  healthcare, group home, motion picture, manufacturing, and baking industries.

For questions about your meals and rest breaks call Gienapp Law, APC at (619) 234-3054 for a free consultation.

Keep on taking those breaks!