Meal and rest break premiums

What they are

California requires employers to provide meal periods and to authorize and permit rest periods. When they don't, the employee is owed a premium: one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate for each workday the meal or rest period is not provided (Labor Code section 226.7). The Labor Commissioner notes that the California Supreme Court treated the premium as a wage in Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, which gives the claim a three-year limitations period.

The rules

An employer may not employ someone for more than five hours a day without a meal period of at least 30 minutes, waivable by mutual consent if the workday is no more than six hours. A second 30-minute meal period is required for more than 10 hours, waivable by mutual consent if the workday is no more than 12 hours (Labor Code section 512). Under the Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders, employers must authorize and permit a net 10-minute paid rest period for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof. The Labor Commissioner reads the premium as one hour per workday for meal violations and one per workday for rest violations, not one per missed break.

Why it matters to a plaintiff firm

Premiums add up across a long employment and feed waiting time penalties and PAGA claims. Time records with short or late meal punches are the usual evidence. Firms collect time and pay records early and compute premiums at the regular rate, not just the base hourly wage. See the wage and hour damages guide.