California Meal Break Law 2021
Employers in California must provide both meal and rest breaks to their employees
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Employers in California must provide both meal and rest breaks to their employees
California Laws on Meal Break and Rest Break in 2021
Missing your meal breaks or rest breaks at work? Does your employer in California give you meal and rest
breaks? Does your employer get penalized for denying employees meal and rest breaks? Read on to know the
California rules on meal breaks and rest breaks along with some of the most frequently asked questions on
California meal break law.
Managing labor compliance at large organizations in California may lead to legal issues. Learn how organizations are leveraging Replicon’s solutions with build-in compliance module to solve California’s labor compliance needs.
California Meal Break Law 2021
Under California’s meal break law, the employer must provide employees with an unpaid meal break for every 5 hours they work. Each meal break must be uninterrupted and duty-free for at-least 30 minutes duration. Employees can spend 30 minutes of meal break on their personal business such as meals, errands or anything they choose. This meal break can be waived with the mutual agreement between the employee and the supervisor, provided the employee does not work for more than 6 hours in a day.
Employees who work for more than 10 hours a day are entitled to take a second meal break that must start before the end of the tenth hour of the shift. The second meal break can be waived with the agreement between the employee and the supervisor provided the employee does not work for more than 12 hours and the first meal break was not waived.
Employer must relieve employees of all duties and permit a reasonable opportunity to take an uninterrupted meal break of 30 minutes. However, employers cannot stop employees from taking meal breaks, create incentives to skip breaks or create a culture that would encourage them to skip breaks.
Under California’s meal break law 2021, Employers must provide meal breaks but do not have to monitor if the employees are taking those breaks. Employers who fail to provide or deny a proper meal break to a non-exempt employee, the premium (penalty) owed is one hour of extra pay for each work day this violation occurs.
On-Site Meal Break Requirements:
Some jobs may require employees to take their meal breaks on site. For ex: A security guard stationed alone at a location or a sole employee in an all night convenience store cannot leave their job in such a way that would qualify as meal break because they cannot be relieved off their duties as discussed above.
Under such circumstances, employers must provide a suitable place to eat and the employee must be paid even if they are not relieved off their duties. The employer must also provide the employee a facility for securing hot food and drink or for heating hot food or drink if a meal period occurs during a shift beginning or ending at or between 10 PM and 6 AM.
California Rest Break Law
The general rule of thumb for California break law is that employers provide employees 10 minutes rest break for every 4 hours worked. These rest breaks are to be taken in the middle of each 4 hour period. However, non-exempt employees who work for less than three-and-a-half hours are not entitled to rest breaks.
Unlike meal breaks which are unpaid, rest breaks are paid, they are counted as time worked and employers should not deduct wages for employees taking rest breaks. During the break, employees must be relieved of all the duties and the employer must provide a suitable resting facility in an area separate from the toilet room. Also, employers cannot ask employees to remain on-site or on-call during rest breaks. Know more on California Rest Break Laws here!
Penalties for Employers denying breaks
Some companies may fail to provide meal or rest breaks out of ignorance, others may do it to save money. If any employer in the state of California denies meal breaks or rest breaks to its employees, they can be penalized under the California’s Meal break law. The law states that, if such a violation occurs, then the employer must pay the employee one extra hour of pay at their regular hourly rate for each workday. This additional pay is referred as “premium pay”.
In case the employer fails to pay the premium amount, the employee can file a wage claim with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement or file a lawsuit against the employer. An employee can file a wage claim within 3 years from the date of violation. In such cases, the employer may be discriminate or retaliate against employees for filing a claim with the Labor commission or asking about a missed breaks.
It is best to consult and employment attorney to assess your options as not all employers may be willing to handle the dispute informally as each dispute is unique.
Frequently asked questions on California break laws:
For more information on California Labor laws, it is best to consult an experienced employment attorney or click here to read more on California Overtime Laws
Yes, you can waive your lunch break in California, but under one condition, you should have worked for 6 hours or less. Under California Law, non exempt employees working in California can sign a waiver with their employer, stating that they will not take a meal break as long as their shift is less than 6 hours in a day.
Such waivers are not permissible if the employee works for more than 6 hours uninterrupted in a single shift. Also in such cases, your employers should not be asking you to sign a lunch break waiver in California if you work for more than 6 hours in a single shift.
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