Meal Time and Break Violations: Legal Recourse

Under California labor law, employers must provide their employees with adequate meal breaks. If an employee’s total day’s work is more than six hours, he/she is entitled to a meal break after five hours of work.

Under the law, while taking his meal break, an employee must be relieved of all work-related duties and be free to leave the work environment. In cases where an employee has to perform other work-related tasks during the time allotted for one’s meal break, the employee is entitled to additional pay.

Common Violations to Meal Breaks

Despite the strict implementation of this labor law, some employers continue to violate and perpetuate the practice. Some of these common violations by employers against meal and rest break law include the following:

• Having employees eat at their desk during meal breaks while they continue to work
• When employees were asked to work for more than 10 hours in a day

Employees who were not allowed to take their meal or rest period are entitled to one-hour pay for every day that he/she missed the break. On the other hand, employees who work more than 10 hours a day are entitled to 2 meal breaks that would last for 30 minutes each. In addition to this, the meal breaks must be no more than five hours apart.

Rest Breaks

Similarly, state laws require employers to allow employees to take brief respite from work by providing them with adequate rest breaks. Under the law, rest breaks must be provided every 4 hours and should last for 10 minutes. However, unlike meal breaks, rest breaks are optional to employees and all rest breaks must be fully paid.

Although some employers allow rest breaks, they actually discourage their employees from taking them. When this happens, an employee is still entitled to the additional 1 hour of pay for any day the proper rest period was not provided.

Under the state labor laws, employers are required to pay for any time that their employees have spent working including time that the employers control and benefit. This includes time that the employee cannot spend as he/she wishes, even if that time is not spent working.

Legal Recourse

Employees who are not allowed to take meal and rest breaks or whose breaks were spent in additional work can file a complaint or a wage claim.

If an employer fails to provide the required meal or rest period, an employee is entitle to one hour of pay at his regular rate of compensation for each workday that meal or rest period was not provided.

If the employer fails to pay the additional one-hour pay, the employee may file a wage claim with the Division of Labor Standards enforcement.

To help him pursue his claim, the employee must consult with an experienced labor and employment attorney.