Meal Breaks

California law is very specific about breaks that an employer is required to give an employee during a work day. Employers must provide employees with a 30-minute meal break after 5 hours of work. If an employee works 10 hours, the employer must allow the employee to have a second meal break. The law does not require that the employer provide paid meal breaks. The law requires that the meal breaks be for at least 30-minutes and that during that time the employee must not be required to perform any work duties. Failure to provide meal breaks is a violation of law with serious consequences to the employer. If you are in need of an employment lawyer because you believe your employer has failed to allow you to have the required meal breaks, it is important that you contact an experienced Los Angeles Meal Breaks Lawyer who will review the facts of your case and who will help you receive compensation to which you are entitled due to your employer’s violations of state or federal labor laws.

The most obvious type of meal break violation occurs when an employer does not permit an employee to stop working and take a 30-minute break after work from 5 hours. However, there are several other ways that a meal break violation could occur.

Interrupted Meal Break. The law requires that an employer have a 30-minute break during which he or she is relieved of performing work duties. For example, after working for 5 hours, Harold stopped to each lunch at his desk. 10 minutes later his boss stopped by his desk and asked Harold a question about an order that had to be shipped that afternoon. Harold answered the question. 10 minutes later Harold’s co-worker asked Harold to email him a copy of a customer invoice. Harold waited until he was finished eating and emailed the invoice. Harold’s employer was in violation of California’s meal break rules because the 30-minute lunch was interrupted. Harold’s 30-minute lunch period was not relieved of all duties for the entire 30-minutes.

Short Meal Break. An employee’s break is less than 30 minutes. For example, 15 minutes into his lunch period, Harold is called into a meeting that lasts for 2 hours during which he ate his lunch. Even though Harold was permitted to each his lunch during the meeting, this is a violation because the actual work-free lunch break was less than 30 minutes.

Late Meal Break. An employee is forced to take a lunch break during his 6th or 7th hour of work instead of right after working for 5 hours.

Lunch Meetings. Lunch meetings or “working lunches” are violations of meal break rules since the employee is not relieved of work duties during that meal break. Instead the employee is not free to leave and is subject to the control of the employer.

Lunch at Desk. If an employee is required to eat lunch at desk, then this is likely a violation of meal break rules since the employee is not free to leave and is subject to the control of the employer. On the other hand, if the employee chooses to eat lunch at his or her desk, this alone would not be a violation.

Too Few Meal Breaks. The law requires that an employee have a 30-minute meal break after working for 5 hours. For example, Harold worked for 5 hours and took a 30-minute meal break. He then worked another 6 hours, but was not permitted to take a second 30-minute meal break. This is likely a violation of California meal break laws because Harold did not receive a meal break every 5 hours. Harold should have had 2 meal breaks that day.

Off-the-clock Work. If an employee is required to clock out after working 8 hours but is also required to continue to work another 3 hours overtime without getting a meal break, then not only would the employer violate meal break rules the employer would have also violated overtime rules.

If you believe that your employer has violated California’s meal break rules by failing to allow you to have 30-minute meal breaks as required, then you may have a valid claim that your employer violated employment laws. It is important that an attorney with experience represents you as you may be entitled to compensation. The staff at VAKILI & LEUS, LLP has years of experience successfully representing clients in matters involving wage-and-hour claims, employment discrimination and other employment law violations. Keep in mind that there are time limits to filing claims. Contact us at 1-855-52LA-LAW (1-855-525-2529) to schedule a free, no obligation consultation regarding your concerns related to your employment.