Rest Breaks

California law requires that employers give employees two types of breaks during the workday: meal breaks and rest breaks. Employers must provide employees with a 30-minute meal break after 5 hours of work and a 10-minute rest break after 4 hours of work. While employers are more likely to make an effort to make sure employees take the required meal break, the required rest break is often overlooked. An important distinction between meal breaks and rest breaks is that rest breaks are paid time off, while meal breaks do not have to be paid. Failure to provide required rest 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 rest breaks, it is important that you contact an experienced Los Angeles Rest Breaks Lawyer who will review the facts of your case and who will help you receive compensation to which you are entitled.

There are a number of workplace scenarios that may contribute to an employee missing a required 10-minute break.

• Work during rest periods. The most common scenario is where an employee has worked for 4 hours, but continues working through a 10-minute break. For example, when it is time for Jenna to take her break, her manager transfers a sales call to her. Jenna takes the call and ends up on the phone for 30 minutes. Immediately after the call Jenna has to go into a meeting.
• Too few rest breaks. Instead of taking a rest break after every 4 hour work period an employee takes only one 10-minute break in a 9 hour work day.
• Late rest break. Instead of taking a break after working 4 hours a manager tells an employee to wait until lunch time and take an extra 10 minutes. Or, instead of permitting an employee to take a rest break after working for 4 hours, the employer tells the employee to leave 10 minutes early.
• Break at desk. If an employee is required to take rest breaks at his or her desk, then this is likely a violation of rest 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 take his or her break at his or her desk, this alone would not be a violation.
• Unpaid breaks. Instead of paying for the time during which the employee took a rest break, the employer deducts the rest time. This would be a clear violation of the rest break law.
• Failure to communicate rest break policy. An employer could inadvertently violate the rest break requirement by failing to communicate to employees the rest break policy. For example, in Benton v. Telecom Network Specialists, Inc., 163 Cal.Rptr.3d 415 (Cal. App., 2014), several hundred technicians employed by Telecom Network Specialists, Inc. (TNS) claimed that TNS violated the rest break policy because they were never told what a rest break was, that they were entitled to them, or when to take them. They further asserted that they while they occasionally took breaks, they were rarely able to take a 10-minute break because of their schedules.

Under California law, if an employee misses a rest break the employer must pay the employee one-hour of pay at a regular rate of pay for each work day when the rest break is not provided. If the additional hour is not paid, the employer may be liable for penalties, costs, and attorney fees associated with not paying the additional hour.

If your employer fails to allow you to take a paid 10-minute rest break or fails to allow you to take a rest break on time, your employer may be violating California rest break laws. Furthermore, you may be entitled to compensation due to this violation. To ensure that your rights are protected it is important that you are represented by an attorney with experience. The staff at VAKILI & LEUS, LLP has years of experience successfully representing clients in a variety of employment related cases including wage-and-hour claims, employment discrimination and other employment law violations. 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.