Missed Meal and Rest Periods

Central Coast Missed Meal and Rest Breaks Law

Is your workplace so busy that you don’t have time to take meal breaks?Or, do you take less than a 30-minute meal break? Or it is so busy that you don’t take a meal break until after you have worked 5-hours or more?

Some employers do not fully comprehend the employment laws, while others blatantly disregard meal breaks law by coercing employees to work through lunch. No matter the employer’s ignorance or motivation employees have clearly defined legal rights under California’s wage and hour laws including the right to be compensated for each documented violation.

Missed Meal Breaks or Missing Lunch

If you have been coerced or not allowed to take meal breaks, or you were expected to continue working (even if that means “remaining around to answer the phone or keep the business open”) then you are owed a FULL hour of regular pay for each day of documented violation. If you have missed meal breaks every day for weeks, months, or years, you are entitled to be paid a full hour of regular pay for every documentable day you missed a legally-entitled uninterrupted meal break. In certain circumstances, California statutes allow you to reach back retroactively up to 4-years to collect these unpaid wages.

California Labor Code 512 sets out the rules for meal breaks and rest breaks:

• All non-exempt California employees are entitled to 30-minutes half hour of uninterrupted meal break in each 5-hour block of time.

• All non-exempt California employees are entitled to a 10-minute rest period in the middle of every 4-hour shift.

UPSHOT? – All non-exempt California employees working an 8-hour day are legally entitled to ONE 30-minute uninterrupted meal break and TWO 10-minute rest breaks.

Missed Rest Breaks or Missing Your “Ten”

Employers must provide non-exempt employees 10-minute paid rest breaks during the workday. The California Industrial Welfare Commission requires a 10-minute paid rest break for every 4-hours worked. Moreover, employers cannot dock non-exempt employee’s paychecks nor require that employees clock out for legally required PAID rest breaks. “Non-exempt” employees include anyone who is not a professional, executive or administrator.

California employers that fail to provide 10-minute rest breaks to eligible employees in accordance with an applicable IWC order, shall be required to pay the employee one additional hour of pay (at the employee’s regular rate of pay) for each workday that the rest break period is not provided.

Basic Requirements for Rest Periods under California law

Required rest breaks DO NOT include an employee’s time to use restroom facilities. Furthermore, the Industrial Welfare Commission law states: “The rest period is defined as a “net” ten minutes, which means that the rest period begins when the employee reaches an area away from the work area that is appropriate for rest. Employers are required to provide suitable resting facilities that shall be available for employees during working hours in an area separate from the toilet rooms.”

Rest breaks should be scheduled as close to the middle of any 4-hour work period as practicable. However, If the nature or circumstances of the companies’ work prevent the employer from giving the break at the middle time, the employee must still receive the required break, but may take it at a less preferable point in the 4-hour work period.

Remedies for Missed Meal Breaks & Rest Breaks

Meal breaks and rest breaks violations are one of the most common employee abuses faced by the clients John F. McCarthy defends along the Central Coast including Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara County and beyond.

If you have been unfairly treated by your current or former employer regarding missed meal breaks and missed rest breaks, Central Coast employment attorney John F. McCarthy can help you recover back compensation — often substantial — from your employer.

Are there more than one victimized employees ?

If you come to us as multiple employees of the same employer, we can often bring a “group” claim against the company or a “class action”. When there are more victimized employees, your net compensation if the claim is successful, will likely be greater per individual as the cost of the court proceedings would be diluted over more individuals.

Even if you are an individual employee – most missed meal/rest break and unpaid overtime claims result in the employer being found liable to pay the employee’s attorney costs. So, why not get your case evaluated, free of charge, by an award-winning employment attorney?