Are you working in California and your employer gives you a meal and rest breaks? It is a surprise to many employees to realize that the federal laws do not give employees the right to have short breaks and meal breaks during the normal working hours. There are some employers who just allow their employees to have such breaks just because they are aware that fatigued employees are not productive. Therefore, the federal laws don’t allow the employers to give rest breaks to the employees. On the other hand, the state law requires the employer to give a number of paid rests and meal breaks to their employees.

The Federal Laws: Paid versus Unpaid Breaks

The federal laws require the employer to pay the employee for the hours worked including the designated breaks. If an employee has to work while on break or rest, he/she must be paid. For instance, when a receptionist has to wait for some deliveries at lunch time, he/she must be paid since he/she is working. Another good example is when a repairman has to take a meal while working. He is taking a meal while doing some repairs and this law demands that he should be paid for such a break.

Besides, the federal law demands that the employees must be paid for those short breaks lasting between five to twenty minutes. They are considered working hours and therefore, the employees must be paid.

On the other hand, the employer is not required to pay for breaks that are bonafide. These are the breaks whereby the employee is relieved of all the duties and allowed to go and rest for more about thirty minutes or more. At that time, the employee is not working and in such case, he/she should not be paid.

These rules only apply if the employer allows breaks. This is because the federal law does not force them to do so.

California Laws Allow Meal and Rest Breaks

California is a state that requires that the employees be allowed breaks and be paid for some of the time they spend on breaks. The employees are allowed meal breaks and paid rest breaks.

Meal Breaks

The California requires that the employees are given a thirty-minute meal break after working for five hours. The employer is not required to pay for this time. If the total working hours are less than six, the employee may decide to waive the meal break. Therefore, meal breaks are not paid unless the employee is required to do some work while taking meals provided by the employer. That is the California law meal periods.

Rest Breaks

The employers are required to provide a ten minutes paid break after every four working hours. They should be provided at the middle of working hours. However, employees who work for less than three and a half hours are not entitled to such breaks.

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Under California break laws, non-exempt employees have a right to rest and meal breaks. The former refers to a 30-minute unpaid, off-duty break if your work entails working for over five hours per day while the latter is a 10-minute break after working continuously for four hours. If your employer doesn’t follow this law, they must pay one additional hour of regular pay for every day that you work without taking the breaks.

Below are more details about the break laws in California.

1. Meal Breaks

Your employer is under obligation to give you a 10-minute meal break after the end of your fifth hour of work.

Your employer is considered to have fulfilled their part if they:

• Relieve you of all your duties
• Surrender control over your activities
• Give you a reasonable opportunity to have an uninterrupted 30-minute break
• Desist from discouraging you from taking your break

Note, though that if your typical day at work lasts six hours, your employer can do away with the break on condition that there is a mutual consent between both of you (Employer and employee.) If on the other hand, your workday lasts more ten hours, he or she must provide a second meal break lasting no less than 30 minutes, at the end of your tenth hour of work.

2. Rest Break

If your workday lasts for a minimum of 3.5 hours, your boss must provide you with uninterrupted rest periods at the rate of 10 minutes for every 4 hours you work, or a Major Fraction thereof. According to the law, a Major Fraction is any duration that exceeds two hours.

Unlike meal breaks, rest breaks should include the following:

• Rest breaks are paid
• Your employer can request you to remain within the premises
• Your boss should relieve you of your duties during rest breaks; However, under Cal. Lab. C. 226.7, you have the freedom to continue working provided your employer isn’t compelling you to do so.

Circumstances Necessitating On-Duty Meal Breaks

For your on-duty meal period to be legal, the nature of your job should be such that it is impossible to relieve you of all duty, both you and your boss must make a written agreement stating the same, and you have to be paid for the duration. You can revoke the agreement at any given time, except for under Wage Order 14 (which refers to Agricultural jobs).

When to File a Claim

If your boss is in any way infringing on your rights as stipulated in the break laws above, contact an attorney immediately because the filing deadline for rest and meal break violations varies. In some cases, the filing deadline is three years, while in others a one-year period is applicable.

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