[SHRM members-only toolkit: Complying with California Wage Payment and Hours of Work Laws]. Your boss must give you a rest break of at least 10 consecutive minutes that are uninterrupted. Therefore, if your employer asks that you work while eating during a meal period, or remain on call during a rest period, this is legally equivalent to denying you your meal or rest break. These laws have been implemented to prevent employees from working long hours in poor working conditions. California meal and rest break laws can be confusing, so employees must take steps to ensure they fully understand their rights. They are not subject to this rule. Employees who work more than ten (10) hours in a day are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break. Please enable scripts and reload this page. For pay periods in which these employees are not exempt, the employees must be paid overtime in accordance with California law. The labor code says that employers aren't required to give workers a day of rest when the "total hours of employment do not exceed 30 hours in any week or six hours in any one day thereof.". 8 California Code of Regulations (“C.C.R”) 11040. They also are eligible for paid rest breaks of at least 10 minutes for each four-hour work shift. Non-exempt employees, however, are protected by California wage and hour laws. Wonder how you might do on a SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP exam? Exempt salaried employees are excluded from California's meal and rest break laws. We have local employment law offices in and around Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Jose, Oakland, the San Francisco Bay area, and several nearby cities. Employees who work 7 straight days must be paid according to California’s principal overtime laws, which provide premium pay based not only on daily and weekly hours, but also on seventh-day work. As is often the case in employment law, California law can be different. For example, an employee who works a seven-hour shift is entitled to two 10-minute rest breaks—one break for the first four hours, and a second break for the last three hours. Join/Renew Now and let SHRM help you work smarter. Labor Code 515 — Exemptions [from meal and rest break requirements]. Employees who work more than ten (10) hours in a day are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break. Please purchase a SHRM membership before saving bookmarks. 4. They were so pleasant and knowledgeable when I contacted them. Shouse Law Group › Labor Law Attorney › Wage and Hour › Meal and Rest Breaks. If you are a supervisor, you may fall under the supervisor exemption, otherwise known as the executive exemption. Section 551 of the California Labor Code provides that "every person employed" in "any occupation" is entitled to one day of rest in every seven days, and Section 552 further clarifies that no employer is permitted to require employees to work in excess of six days out of a seven-day period. The employees argued that the California "day of rest" rule should apply on a rolling basis—otherwise, employees could be required to work up to 12 consecutive days without a day off. California Supreme Court Clarifies ‘Day of Rest’ Law for Employers, Virtual California HR: Applying CA Law to Employment Practices, Know Your Data Security Obligations Under California’s New Privacy Law, Workers’ Comp Was Exclusive Remedy for Claims Based on Lead Exposure, Gig-Worker Model Upends Employee Classification Debate. Most nonexempt workers in the state are entitled to one day off every workweek. The plaintiffs assert violations of California Labor Code sections 551 and 552, which respectively provide that: every employee in California is "entitled" to "one day's rest [from labor] in seven"; and, no employer may "cause" its employees "to work more than six days in seven." Discretion and Independent Judgment. Nordstrom had argued that "causing" means "forcing" or "requiring," but the court said that interpretation is too narrow because there are a lot of ways an employer can implicitly require employees to forego a day of rest, she explained. The default rule is that all employees are not exempt and must receive overtime, meal breaks and rest breaks. . Most non-exempt employees in California are entitled to one day of rest in seven, but there has been some confusion among employers in how that seven-day period should be measured. Nordstrom, the California Supreme Court recently provided much needed guidance about a non-exempt employee’s entitlement to a day of rest in a workweek. The DLSE focused on the fact that the schedules for exempt employees were being reduced to 4-day workweeks, which matched the 20 percent reduction in their salaries. This ruling means that if an employer's workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday, it's not a problem for an employee to be scheduled to work every day from Wednesday to Wednesday—even though that's more than seven consecutive days of work, said Sandy Rappaport, an attorney with Hanson Bridgett in San Francisco. To request permission for specific items, click on the “reuse permissions” button on the page where you find the item. In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several laws impacting California employers. Exempt employees are employees to whom important California wage and hour laws, such as overtime laws, do not apply. Anything over two hours is a “major fraction” of a four-hour period. In addition, her employer is required to give her at least 20 minutes’ worth of rest period during her shift. In addition, so-called “on duty” meal periods, where employees must work through their meal breaks, are permitted only if: California employees may sue employers for denying them meal or rest breaks required under the Labor Code or labor regulations. California Day of Rest Requirements. However, employers are required to pay employees for the mandatory ten (10) minute rest … The new laws — some of which were signed into law just weeks ago — address several topics including sick leave, worker classification, employee leave, workers’ compensation, safety regulation enforcement, wages and unemployment insurance. Posted in Best Practices For California Employers, Class Actions, Employee Handbooks, Exempt Employees, Expense Reimbursement, Hiring, Meal and Rest Breaks, Wage & Hour Law With the start of 2019, I’m writing a series of posts covering employment law … 16 This means that, if you are an exempt employee, your employer does not need to pay you time and a half if you work more than eight hours in a workday, or more than 40 hours in a workweek, or otherwise “work off the clock.” She cautioned that employers should check with counsel to make sure the documentation they are creating is compliant. Holiday pay for exempt, salaried, employees can be confusing to both employee and employer. An employee cannot simply agree to be considered exempt from overtime. Successful wage and hour class action lawsuits often involve failure to provide meal breaks or rest periods. On May 8, the California Supreme Court delivered some good news for employers: The day of rest must be given in a workweek, not on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven-day period. An employer can get into trouble if it ends up with a record that looks like workers were getting implicitly rewarded or punished based on their decision, Rappaport said. These mandatory breaks must be in the middle of each work period and must be 10 minutes for every four hours worked or fraction thereof. In addition, California has a 7th day overtime premium on the 7th consecutive day worked in a … Authorized rest period time shall be counted as hours worked for which there shall be no deduction from wages.”). This applies to employees regardless of whether they are engaged by the day, the week, month, or year, and regardless of whether they work during the day or night. For example, did the employer provide more favorable schedules to employees who chose to give up their day of rest or assign a poor performance rating to those who didn't? If you work over 6 hours, you are entitled to a second rest break. if(currentUrl.indexOf("/about-shrm/pages/shrm-china.aspx") > -1) {
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