Q. How does an employer comply with their legal obligation to provide meal times? An employee and an employer may mutually agree that the employee waives (or waives) a meal break. California Labor Code § 512 (a). There may be a number of reasons why employers and employees agree to such a waiver of the lunch break; For example, the employee may want the extra 30 minutes of salary, the employer may need few staff during the employee`s shift, or the employee may simply have lunch or dinner plans after work. However, a waiver of the lunch break is only allowed in very limited circumstances. If an employee`s shift is six hours or less, meal times may be cancelled by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee. Thus, if an employee works six and a half hours, he and his employer are prohibited from waiving a derogation for the meal break. Similarly, if an employee`s shift is 12 hours or less, the second meal period can only be lifted by mutual agreement if the first meal break has not been cancelled. This means that an employee who works 14 hours, for example, cannot do without that second meal break, whether the first meal break has been cancelled or not. Here are the key points California employers should understand about keeping meals and breaks in the state. The law has not changed. In order to formally abstain from a lunch break, employers and employees should ideally agree in writing.
Once an employee works five hours or more, they take a 30-minute unpaid meal break. The formal waiver only applies if the employee`s workday is six hours or less. Employer`s note: Be careful and consult a lawyer before approving breaks from service. Meal service hours were observed only in very limited circumstances. 3. Workers may refrain from taking breaks to eat during shifts of less than 6 hours or shifts of less than 12 hours. No, it`s not your lunch. When you drive, do you eat? Whether it`s you or not, a “lunch” is an uninterrupted period during which you are completely exempt from the obligation. Anything that is not completely exempt from the obligation during the entire lunch break will be in violation of the Labor Code for lunch (meal times) and you will owe the 1-hour meal wage. Meals are due before the end of the fifth hour, so if someone works beyond that, a meal penalty (an hour`s extra pay) is due.
If you`re good at paying that extra hour to meet requests, I don`t think there`s anything wrong with that. But if you don`t pay the meal penalty, there`s a 3-year statute of limitations for which you could be held liable. If a working time not exceeding six hours completes the work of the day, the meal time may be cancelled by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee. According to Labor Code 512, non-exempt employees who work more than 5 hours a day must receive a minimum meal of 30 minutes. If the employee works more than 10 hours a day, they should have a second meal break of at least 30 minutes.1 The correct answer is “It depends.” There are many types of exceptions under California labor laws. If you are a supervisor, you may fall under the supervisor exception, also known as the executive exemption. But this exemption has many requirements that your employer may have blown up. Other types of exempt workers also continue to be entitled to meal break and rest rights. For example, truck drivers are often considered released.
However, under California labor laws, they still have to get their meal breaks and rest breaks. Another example is “inside salespeople” who sell products or services while physically stationed in the employer`s office. Although they are generally considered “liberated”, they are still entitled to meal breaks and rest breaks. Contact a lawyer again to see if your situation qualifies for breaks. The court ruled that because California requires strict compliance with state requirements for meal times, a rounding policy for meal times was prohibited, as it could result in employees receiving meal times of less than 30 minutes. It turned out that even a seemingly minor violation, such as .B an employee who receives a meal duration of 28 or 29 minutes, would violate California`s meal length requirements. .
