California law requires paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks for most non-exempt employees, with strict employer obligations. Workers denied proper breaks may be entitled to penalties and can take legal action against non-compliant employers.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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According to California law on breaks, which is far more liberal toward workers than the federal labor law, non-exempt workers who work more than five hours in the course of the day have the right to a 30-minute unaltered, duty-free lunch break. You also have the right to a duty-free, ten-minute rest break for every four hours of labor (or the “major portion” of that).
If your manager violates California law on breaks, they must provide you with an additional hour of normal pay for every day that a meal break was broken and another additional hour of regular pay for each day that a rest break was broken.
Your supervisor is required to provide you with a minimum of ten uninterrupted minutes of rest.
Keep in mind that food and rest periods should not be merged; they should be taken separately. Your supervisor cannot give you one one-hour break and claim that it is equivalent to all of your rest and lunch breaks.
Remember that there are numerous exceptions to the aforementioned California law on breaks for specific businesses, including manufacturing, baking, healthcare, group homes, construction, and film.
Although employers hold the legal right to offer you food and rest breaks, they cannot force you to take them. As an employee, that is your responsibility. It is acceptable by law for you to choose to voluntarily forego/omit your meal & rest break, and to take it later, without coercion from your employer. However, please note that labor laws in California provide employers the authority to determine your hours at work, including when you take breaks. Employers have the right to regulate that workers take their meal & rest breaks, but they are not obligated to.
There is a chance that a worker may be disciplined/fired for insubordination by the employer if they fail to comply. Hence, it is beneficial to let your boss know in advance if you plan to work late or skip any food/rest breaks.
You should, and you can, indeed. Should your employer be refusing you rest and meal breaks, you are entitled to a penalty of one hour’s earnings for each day that you failed to receive any rest breaks and another hour’s salary for each day that you were refused any meal breaks, for a total penalty of up to two hours’ wages each day. You can submit a complaint to the California Labor Board with our assistance.
Please take note that there are tight deadlines for filing your claims. Due to a recent ruling by the California Supreme Court, the filing date for violations of meal and rest breaks is typically three years, but, in some circumstances, a one-year deadline may be applicable.
The response “it depends” is the right one. The labor laws of California offer a wide range of exemptions. You can qualify for the executive exemption, sometimes referred to as the managerial exemption, if you are a supervisor. However, your employer might have violated a number of restrictions in that exception. The right to a food break and a rest break is also still applicable to other types of exempt employees.
For example, truck drivers are usually viewed as exempt and are not required to take California meal & rest breaks, even though federal law requires them to do so after eight hours. Another example would be “inside salesmen,” who work within the employer’s office and offer goods or services. Even though they are typically seen as “exempt,” they nevertheless have the right to take rest and lunch breaks. To find out whether your circumstances qualify for breaks, speak with a lawyer once more.
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