Our firm gives employees
an unpaid 30-minute lunch break, and we automatically deduct these 30 minutes
from the workday to save on paperwork. One of our employees recently told us
that our automatic deduction practice is illegal. Is this true?
– Marlene in
Angeles
The HR Management & Compliance Report: How To Comply with California Wage & Hour Law, explains everything you need to know to stay in compliance with the state’s complex and ever-changing rules, laws, and regulations in this area. Coverage on bonuses, meal and rest breaks, overtime, alternative workweeks, final paychecks, and more.
Yes, automatic
deductions for meal breaks violate
wage and hour law. The key reason for this is that wage and hour recordkeeping
provisions found in Section 7 of the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders require
employers to maintain records showing when an employee begins and ends each
work period, including meal periods. The only xception
to this requirement is
when the employer’s operations cease for meal periods.
Another problem with
using automatic deduction for meal breaks would arise if employees take meal
breaks that are shorter than the 30-minute auto-deduction period. In that case,
employees would be underpaid for all hours worked.
Thus, the best practice
is to ensure that nonexempt employees accurately record their time each workday,
either by punching a time clock or filling out a timesheet. The records should
reflect the start and end times for shifts and for meal breaks. (Note that rest
breaks don’t need to be recorded.)