Meal and Rest Breaks
At Work Lawyers PC, we are experienced in fighting for meal and rest breaks of California employees. Under California law, all employees should receive their meal and rest breaks because they’re working hard and need time to recuperate and take care of their mental and physical health.
California Rest and Meal Break Law
Generally, all hourly paid employees who have worked an 8 hour shift are entitled to at least two paid 10 minute rest breaks per shift and one unpaid 30 minute meal break.
For hourly paid employees who have worked 10 hours of more, they are legally entitled to at least 3 rest breaks of at least 10 minutes and two meal breaks of 30 minutes each.
California employers who do not provide their employees complete and timely rest and meal breaks should pay their employees 1 hour of pay for each violation.
Examples of Common Rest Break Violations
- Rest breaks are not being paid. Rest break time is deducted from employee pay.
- Rest breaks do not occur at all because there is too much work
- A smoke, restroom or coffee break of 5 minutes is substituted for the 10 minute break required under California law.
- Rest breaks are interrupted
- Rest breaks could be interrupted due to a call for help on the phone or radio
- An employer tells an employee to “hurry up” or otherwise threatens an employee to not take a full or timely rest break and return to work.
Examples of Common Meal Break Violations
- Giving too much work to employees that results in missed or incomplete meal breaks
- Telling employees to clock out for their meal break but requiring them to return to work
- Pressuring employees to clock in for work before they have had a full 30 minutes for their meal break.
- Requiring employees to stay on the job site for their meal break.
- Taking meal breaks after the 5th hour of work
- Not getting a second meal break after the 10th hour of work
- Forcing employees to interrupt their meal break by preparing for work duties during their meal break. For example, putting on special clothing or obtaining parts or writing reports during their meal break.
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The purpose of these meal and rest break laws is to give all hard working employees a chance to mentally and physically recover from an exhausting day of work. Penalties for violations of these laws compensate employees who have not been able to take their meal and rest breaks.
Employers who violate the law can be liable to their employees for substantial amounts of money if they are found to not have given their employees their full and complete meal and rest breaks. Work Lawyers PC has collected millions of dollars on behalf of California employees.
We’re here to listen to you and understand what happened to your meal and break breaks. If you want a free consultation to discuss what happened to you or if you think your employer violated the law, please call us at XXXX or schedule an appointment with us here.