Michael Ballaris filed a class action lawsuit claiming that his employer, Wacker Siltronic Corp. in Oregon, improperly subtracted “paid lunch” time payments from weekly overtime compensation. Wacker claimed the deductions were permissible because it wasn’t required to pay employees for their lunch period in the first place. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, which covers California, ruled that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t permit employers to credit payments for compensated meal periods against overtime compensation. Such a practice amounts to false and deceptive bookkeeping in violation of the FLSA, the court said.