Meal breaks in California have very specific rules that must be followed for employers to be legally compliant. Marc Jacuzzi explained the requirements in detail in a recent CER webinar.
As explained by Jacuzzi, California Labor Code Section 512 states that “an employer may not employ an employee for a work period of more than 5 hours per day without providing . . . the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except that if the total work period per day of the employee is no more than 6 hours, [then] the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of both the employer and employee.”
Additionally, Section 512 states that an employer may not employ an employee for a work period of more than 10 hours per day without providing the employee with a second meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except that if the total hours worked is no more than 12 hours, then the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and the employee – but only if the first meal period was not waived.
In order to comply with the law, an employer must permit a reasonable opportunity for an uninterrupted 30-minute break. To do so, the employer must relieve the employee of all duty and relinquish control over the employee’s actions for the duration of the meal break. The employer should be careful to not undermine their own meal period policy by pressuring employees to perform duties in ways that omit breaks. However, the employer’s obligation does not extend to policing employees to confirm that every employee takes every meal break without working.
Providing Meal Breaks in California: Exceptions to the Rules
Are there any employees who are not required to have meal breaks in California? Yes—there are some specific exceptions permitted within the law. The Industrial Welfare Commission (which is part of the Department of Industrial Relations within the government of California) “may adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if the commission determines that the order is consistent with the health and welfare of the affected employees.” Jacuzzi told us. Additionally, the meal period regulation does not apply to the wholesale baking industry, the motion picture industry, or the broadcasting industry.
Meal breaks in California are also handled differently for union employees. The meal break regulations outlined in Section 512 will not apply when an employee meets all three of these conditions:
- The employee is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
- The CBA expressly provides for wages, hours of work and working conditions of employees.
- The CBA expressly provides for meal periods, final and binding arbitration regarding meal periods, overtime premiums, and an hourly rate of not less than 30 percent more than state minimum wage.
However, this CBA exception applies only to:
- Employees in construction operations
- Employees employed as commercial drivers
- Employees employed in the security services industry as a security officer
- Employees employed by an electrical or gas corporation or a local publicly-owned electrical unity
With such limited exceptions to providing meal breaks in California, employers need to be careful to ensure the proper breaks are provided, or they will risk facing premium-pay penalties.
The above information is excerpted from the webinar titled “Meals and Rest Breaks in California: HR’s Guide to Wage & Hour Compliance.” To register for a future webinar, visit CER webinars.
Marc L. Jacuzzi, Esq., is a shareholder in the law firm of Simpson, Garrity, Innes & Jacuzzi. He advises clients regarding all aspects of the employer/employee relationship including hiring and termination, wage and hour requirements, employee classification, civil rights and discrimination issues, employee investigations, commission plans, employment contracts, employee handbooks and policies, confidential information agreements, reductions in force, leaves of absence, employment audits, M&A employment issues, violence in the workplace, and international employment issues.