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Meal and Rest Break Compliance for California Employers: Best Practices

Meal and Rest Break Compliance for California Employers: Best Practices. David Van Pelt Kate Visosky April 17, 2013. Meal and Rest Breaks in California. How do you ensure that your company is in compliance? How do you avoid taking unnecessary steps?. What is the Law?. Meal Periods

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Meal and Rest Break Compliance for California Employers: Best Practices

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  1. Meal and Rest Break Compliance for California Employers: Best Practices David Van Pelt Kate Visosky April 17, 2013

  2. Meal and Rest Breaks in California • How do you ensure that your company is in compliance? • How do you avoid taking unnecessary steps?

  3. What is the Law? • Meal Periods • The California Labor Code and Wage Orders require that an employer may not “employ an employee for a work period of more than five hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes.”

  4. What is the Law? (Cont.) • Exception 1: When an employee completes his/her shift in six (6) hours or less, the meal period can be waived by mutual agreement. • Does the agreement have to be in writing? • Not required by law, but best practice says yes.

  5. What is the Law? (Cont.) • Exception 2: An “on-duty” meal period is permitted when “the nature of the work” prevents an employee from being relieved of all duty and when the parties agree in writing to an on-the-job meal period. • “On-duty” meal period involves an employee working during the meal period. • The employee must be paid during an “on-duty” meal period. • The “nature of the work” standard is tough to meet.

  6. What is the Law? (Cont.) • Rest Periods • Every employer shall “authorize and permit “ non-exempt employees to take paid rest periods “at the rate of ten (10) minutes” per “four (4) hours or major fraction thereof” worked. • A rest period need not be provided if the work period is less than 3.5 hours.

  7. What is the Penalty? • For each work day that a meal or rest period is required but not provided, one hour of pay is due to the employee. • Therefore, an employer can be required to give an employee an extra 2 hours pay per day if the meal period and rest periods are not properly provided.

  8. What the Brinker Case Did Not Hold • Brinker did not excuse companies from responsibility for meal or rest periods. • Brinker did not leave the timing of meal/rest periods up to the employee.

  9. What the Brinker Case Did Hold • To “provide” a meal period, employers are required to make sure that employees… • Are relieved of “all duties” for at least 30 minutes; and • Are free to leave the workplace if they wish. • The first meal period must be made available after no more than 5 hours of work; the second, after no more than 10 hours of work. • An employer is not liable if an employee is “relieved of all duty” but chooses to work.

  10. What BrinkerDid Hold (Cont.) • If the employer knows or reasonably should know that an employee performs work during the meal period, the employee must be paid for the time worked. • However, the employee is not necessarily entitled to the meal period penalty in that case.

  11. What BrinkerDid Hold (Cont.) • A ten-minute paid rest break must be provided for every “major fraction” of four hours after working at least 3.5 hours: • One 10-minute break from 3.5-6 hours. • Another break for shifts of 6-10 hours. • Another break for shifts between 10-14 hours. • Employers do not have to provide a rest break before the meal period, although it is best practice to space out the rest breaks throughout the workday.

  12. Issues Left Unclear by Brinker • Question: Can an employee claim a violation where his workload left him no choice but to perform work during the meal/rest breaks? • Answer: Yes, but it is not clear how busy an employee must be to make that claim valid. • Result: An employer should not create impediments that prevent employees from taking uninterrupted breaks.

  13. Suggested Best Practices • The Policy - Meal Periods • Important to have a written policy that provides that: • An uninterrupted meal period of at least 30 minutes will be provided to each employee; and • The first meal break will be provided before the end of the fifth hour of work; and • Employees are relieved of work duties and can leave the premises during the meal period.

  14. Suggested Best Practices (Cont.) • The Policy – Rest Breaks • Important to have a written policy that: • Makes clear that employees are provided a rest break for every four hours or “major fraction” thereof -- • 3.5 to 6 hours of work, 1 rest period; • After 6 hours of work, 2 rest period; • After 10 hours of work, 3 rest periods. • Employees are relieved of work duties during the rest period.

  15. Suggested Best Practices: The Policy • The policy should be acknowledged in writing by employees. • Reminders of the policy should be circulated periodically to employees.

  16. Suggested Best Practices: Timekeeping • Meal Periods • The time recording system should record meal periods. • The time recording system should not automatically record a 30-minute meal period, regardless of whether it is taken.

  17. Best Practices: Timekeeping • Rest Breaks • Should employees clock in and out for rest periods? • Probably not. • Because it is paid, it is too easy to forget and too time-consuming to enforce.

  18. Best Practices • Should employees acknowledge in writing that their hours are correct when they get paid? • Pros: • It can provide useful evidence to respond to claims of “off-the-clock” work or missed meal periods. • Cons: • Employees can claim that they were coerced. • If the practice is not consistently followed then it is of little use.

  19. Best Practices – The Penalty • Should employers self-impose a meal penalty when the meal period is missed or less than 30 minutes? • Pros: • May limit the likelihood of a claim. • Limits potential damages if an employee brings a claim. • Cons: • Automatic penalty is unnecessary in cases where the employee was provided a meal period but worked anyway.

  20. Best Practices – Training & Discipline • Managers: • Important to train them on meal period compliance, necessity of providing meal & rest periods within an acceptable timeframe. • Employees: • Discipline employees who fail to record meal periods, or clock out for a meal period but continue to work.

  21. Best Practices – Schedules • Consider building meal/rest periods into employee schedules. • Easier to track compliance; but • May be impractical. • Managers must be clear about timing of meal/rest periods if they schedule them.

  22. Thank You • David Van Pelt • (310) 228-3734 • dvanpelt@sheppardmullin.com • Kate Visosky • (310) 228-3746 • kvisosky@sheppardmullin.com

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