Meal & Rest Break Violations FAQ

Under California Labor Code Section 512, non-exempt employees are entitled to an uninterrupted 30-minute unpaid meal break when working more than five hours per day. The meal break must begin before the end of the fifth hour of work. For shifts exceeding ten hours, employees are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break that must begin before the end of the tenth hour.

During these meal periods, employees must be completely relieved of all duties and free to leave the premises. Employers cannot control the activities of employees during their meal breaks, nor can they require employees to remain on-call or available to respond to work-related matters. The employee must be free to use the time for their own purposes without any work-related obligations or restrictions imposed by the employer.

California Labor Code Section 226.7 and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders require employers to provide one paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, or major fraction thereof. This means employees working 3.5 to 6 hours receive one rest break, those working 6 to 10 hours receive two rest breaks, and those working 10 to 14 hours receive three rest breaks.

Rest breaks must be scheduled as near as possible to the middle of each work period and cannot be combined with meal breaks or taken at the beginning or end of shifts. Unlike meal breaks, rest breaks are paid time and count as hours worked for all purposes including overtime calculations. Employees must be relieved of all duties during rest breaks and permitted to use the time as they choose without employer interference.

Your employer can only require you to work through your meal break in very limited circumstances involving an on-duty meal period agreement. Under California Labor Code Section 512, an on-duty meal period is permitted only when the nature of the work prevents an employee from being relieved of all duty, and there must be a written agreement between the employer and employee.

This typically applies to positions where only one employee is on duty, such as a sole security guard or a single worker at a remote location. The on-duty meal period must be paid as time worked, and the written agreement must be revocable by the employee at any time. If these strict conditions are not met and you are denied a meal break or required to remain on duty, your employer owes you one additional hour of pay at your regular rate of compensation for each workday that the compliant meal period is not provided.

California Labor Code Section 226.7 establishes that employers must pay employees one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each workday that a compliant meal or rest break is not provided. This is known as premium pay and is calculated separately for meal break violations and rest break violations. If both a meal break and rest break are denied on the same day, the employer owes two hours of premium pay.

This premium pay is considered wages, not penalties, and is subject to the statute of limitations for wage claims. Employers cannot round down or prorate this premium pay - it must be paid as a full hour for any violation, regardless of the length of the break actually provided or denied. The premium pay must be calculated using the employee's regular rate of pay, which includes all non-discretionary compensation, not just the base hourly rate.

Under California Labor Code Section 512, meal breaks are generally unpaid time, provided the employer completely relieves the employee of all duties and relinquishes control over the employee's activities during the break period. The employee must be free to leave the premises and use the time for their own purposes without restriction. However, if the employer requires the employee to remain on duty during the meal period, or if the employee is not completely relieved of all duties, the meal period must be paid as time worked.

Additionally, certain occupations may require on-duty paid meal periods based on the nature of the work, subject to a written agreement. If a meal break is interrupted by work duties, even briefly, the entire meal period becomes compensable time and the employer still owes the one-hour premium pay for failing to provide a compliant off-duty meal break. Employers who exercise control over employees during meal breaks, such as requiring them to remain on-premises when leaving is practical, may also be required to pay for those meal periods.

Under California Labor Code Section 512, employees may waive their first meal break only if the total work period is no more than six hours, and both the employer and employee mutually consent to the waiver. This waiver can be revoked by the employee at any time. For the second meal break on shifts exceeding ten hours, it can be waived only if the total hours worked is no more than twelve hours and the employee did not waive their first meal break.

The waiver must be voluntary and cannot result from employer pressure or coercion. It is important to note that rest breaks cannot be waived under any circumstances - employees are always entitled to their required rest periods. Employers cannot create policies that systematically discourage employees from taking required breaks, and any waiver must be genuinely voluntary to be legally valid. A pattern of waivers or an employer culture that discourages breaks may indicate that waivers are not truly voluntary.

California Labor Code Section 1102.5 and Section 98.6 protect employees from retaliation when they exercise their legal right to take meal and rest breaks. Retaliation can include termination, demotion, reduction in hours, harassment, or any adverse employment action taken because an employee insists on taking their legally required breaks. If you experience retaliation, document all instances including dates, times, witnesses, and the specific retaliatory actions taken.

You can file a complaint with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) or pursue a civil lawsuit. In retaliation cases, you may be entitled to reinstatement, back pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and potentially punitive damages. The law also provides for recovery of attorney's fees and costs if you prevail in your claim. It is illegal for employers to create a work environment where employees feel pressured to skip breaks or face negative consequences for taking them, and such systemic practices can support retaliation claims.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 338, the statute of limitations for meal and rest break premium pay claims is three years from the date of each violation. This means you can recover premium pay for violations that occurred within the three years preceding the filing of your claim or lawsuit. Each workday on which a violation occurs represents a separate cause of action, so the statute of limitations runs separately for each day's violation.

For continuing violations where breaks are systematically denied, you may be able to recover for all violations within the three-year lookback period. It is advisable to file claims as soon as possible to preserve evidence and witness testimony. Some employers attempt to argue for a shorter one-year statute of limitations, but California courts have generally held that the three-year period applies to these wage-related claims under Labor Code Section 226.7. Additionally, waiting period penalties under Labor Code Section 203 may apply if premium pay is not paid upon termination.

California's meal and rest break requirements apply to most non-exempt employees, but there are limited exceptions. Under various Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders, certain occupations have modified requirements. For example, commercial drivers may be subject to different meal period rules due to federal regulations. Healthcare workers in some facilities may have alternative break arrangements under specific circumstances. Employees covered by valid collective bargaining agreements may have negotiated different break schedules, provided certain conditions are met and the agreement expressly provides for such variations.

Workers in the construction, drilling, mining, and logging industries may have alternative break schedules under certain Wage Orders. However, these exceptions are narrowly construed, and employers cannot simply claim an exception applies without meeting specific legal requirements. Independent contractors are not entitled to meal and rest breaks under California law, which is why proper worker classification under Labor Code Section 2775 and the ABC test established in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court is crucial to determining break entitlements.

Under California law, employers retain the right to schedule when meal and rest breaks occur, provided the timing complies with legal requirements. For meal breaks under Labor Code Section 512, the first meal period must begin before the end of the fifth hour of work, and the second before the end of the tenth hour. Employers can set specific meal period times within these parameters. For rest breaks under Section 226.7, they must be scheduled in the middle of each work period to the extent practicable.

While employers have scheduling authority, they cannot use this authority to effectively deny breaks by scheduling them at impractical times or requiring employees to remain available or on-call during breaks. The employer must authorize and permit breaks, not merely make them available on paper. If operational needs genuinely prevent a compliant break, the employer must pay the premium pay. Employees cannot be disciplined for taking authorized breaks at the scheduled times or for asserting their right to compliant break periods. The California Supreme Court has held that employers must provide breaks, not just make them available in theory.