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California employers must generally provide a timely 30-minute unpaid meal period for a shift exceeding five hours. A meal period is considered timely if it starts on or before the end of the employee's fifth hour of work.DLSE Meal Periods FAQs.
California employers must generally provide a timely 30-minute unpaid meal period for a shift exceeding five hours. A meal period is considered timely if it starts on or before the end of the employee's fifth hour of work. DLSE Meal Periods FAQs.
As a precaution, employees should clock out no later than 4 hours and 59 minutes into their shifts. For example, if an employee begins work at 8:00 a.m. and works an eight-hour shift, the employee's meal break should start on or before 12:59 p.m.:
8:00 - 9:00 am (First Hour)
9:00 - 10:00 am (Second Hour)
10:00 - 11:00 am (Third Hour)
11:00 - 12:00 pm (Fourth Hour)
12:00 - 1:00 pm (Fifth Hour)
When an employee works more than 10 hours, a second 30-minute meal period must be provided starting on or before the end of the employee's tenth hour of work. For example, if an employee begins work at 8:00 a.m., then as a precaution the second meal period should start on or before 5:59 p.m. If, however, the employee took the first 30-minute unpaid meal period, then the second meal period should start until on or before 6:29 p.m. See Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004.
Generally, with mutual consent, which should always be in writing, employees who work more than five but no more than six hours may waive their meal period, and employees who work more than 10 but no more than 12 hours may waive the second meal period -- only if the first meal period was not waived.
If the employer fails to provide the required meal period(s) on time, the employee must be paid one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation (meal period premium pay) for each workday that the meal period(s) is not provided. DLSE Meal Period FAQ No. 4; Labor Code 226.7.
Take-Aways:
Seemingly small technical errors repeated company-wide can add up to exorbitant potential class action and/or PAGA liability. Require employees to take meal breaks earlier in the shift rather than down to the wire. Ideally, create a schedule so each employee knows when they're supposed to start their meal break(s). Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook with an updated California-compliant work schedules and breaks policy. Have a competent attorney conduct a confidential wage audit by reviewing a sampling of your employees' timecards and paystubs to ensure proper meal break compliance.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Cindy Bamforth
April 4, 2025
"Since taking office, President Donald Trump has introduced sweeping changes to immigration enforcement through a series of executive orders aimed at expanding both the legal authorities used to enforce immigration laws and the infrastructure needed to accomplish deportations ... [The president's] Border Czar, Tom Homan, has advocated for workplace enforcement that targets unauthorized workers and the businesses that hire them. Employers should be prepared for increased I-9 audits and ICE enforce
"Since taking office, President Donald Trump has introduced sweeping changes to immigration enforcement through a series of executive orders aimed at expanding both the legal authorities used to enforce immigration laws and the infrastructure needed to accomplish deportations ... [The president's] Border Czar, Tom Homan, has advocated for workplace enforcement that targets unauthorized workers and the businesses that hire them. Employers should be prepared for increased I-9 audits and ICE enforcement actions." What the New Administration's Increased Immigration Enforcement Means for Employers, Duane Morris (February 25, 2025) (emphasis supplied).
By the I-9 process, federal law requires employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of new employees and to terminate any worker upon discovery of unauthorized immigration status. Violators are subject to civil fines and potential criminal prosecution. See, e.g., Salas v. Sierra Chemical Co., 59 Cal.4th 407 (2014).
On the other hand, in United States v. California, 921 F.3d 865 (2019), the federal Ninth Circuit confirmed California employers have specific obligations to their workers if faced with immigration officials seeking to remove a suspected illegal migrant from the premises. Under this state's Immigrant Worker Protection Act ("AB 450"), short of a judicial warrant, company management is prohibited from allowing immigration agents to enter nonpublic workplace areas or to access employee records. Employers also must notify workers within 72 hours of receiving immigration agency notice of an impending I-9 audit as well as provide a copy of the agency's audit results to any employee identified as potentially out of status.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the prior Trump administration's request to review that decision, leaving AB 450 in place.
Take-aways:
California employers must comply with federal and state laws regarding immigration enforcement actions in the workplace. Best practices include appointment of a management liaison for ICE, able to distinguish an I-9 audit request from a workplace raid and to properly navigate both. Audits usually come on a formal notice of inspection, requiring employer response within three days unless extended by agreement. Raids are disruptive law enforcement activities requiring judicial warrant for any immediate inspection of premises or records and possible detentions.
For more detailed guidance, see Trump's Immigration Crackdown: Key Policies & Impact on Businesses, WoodsRogers (February 4, 2025); and Trump Takes Swift Immigration Action: What Employers Need to Know, FisherPhillips (January 25, 2025).
See also:
Tim Bowles
March 28, 2025
Under newly enactedLabor Code section 181, the California Labor Commissioner (LC) hascitedAmity In-Home Care (Amity) $2.3 million for misclassifying caregivers as independent contractors.
Under newly enacted Labor Code section 181, the California Labor Commissioner (LC) has cited Amity In-Home Care (Amity) $2.3 million for misclassifying caregivers as independent contractors.
On investigation, the LC also discovered Amity had no workers compensation insurance and issued a stop order and $100/worker penalty assessment. The stop order closed the company until it acquired the coverage, but it had to continue paying the workers.
Citations against Amity include: willful worker misclassification penalties ($550,000); unpaid minimum wages ($422,033), plus liquidated damages ($422,033); unpaid overtime ($424,809); rest and meal premiums ($165,162); no workers' compensation insurance ($81,673); pay stub penalties ($27,400); waiting time penalties for late final pay ($108,094); and other civil penalties ($18,950).
Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower commented: "Misclassifying workers is not a simple paperwork error. It is a deliberate violation of the law that denies employees earned wages, protections, and benefits they are legally owed and entitled to. My office is committed to holding employers accountable and ensuring all workers, especially caregivers, receive the pay they deserve."
Take-Aways:
An employer can be tempted to hire people as independent contractors to save money or at the worker's request. However, qualification as an independent contractor is a matter of law, not choice. Managers should consult a qualified attorney before they classify an incoming worker as an independent contractor.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Helena Kobrin
March 21, 2025
We have many wonderful clients who over decades have built thriving businesses from scratch. There is joy in what they do, good managers working insane hours, with many trusted, well-paid employees who have hung-in for years, through good times and otherwise.
We have many wonderful clients who over decades have built thriving businesses from scratch. There is joy in what they do, good managers working insane hours, with many trusted, well-paid employees who have hung-in for years, through good times and otherwise.
Yet, well more than once, we have seen such life work threatened with destruction by "little" mistakes on routine workplace practices that can pose millions in penalties under California's Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) (2004).
PAGA is the pinnacle (so far) of this state's ever-growing mass of workplace regulations. The law deputizes private-practice lawyers to sue and collect Labor Code penalties ranging from $100 to $10,000 per employee and per occurrence on at least 50 code sections. Liability generally stems from overlooked technical details, not intentional violations.
For instance, California law requires up to 16 data points on every pay stub (earnings statement). Even one inadvertent omission or inaccurate entry - repeated across the boards - can pose sky-high PAGA penalties.
The sample above is case in point. For that company's hourly workers, the Labor Code required nine specific listings on the stub, including:
(1) Gross wages earned;
(2) Total hours worked;
(3) All deductions, including taxes, disability insurance, and health and welfare payments;
(4) Net wages earned;
(5) Inclusive dates of the pay period;
(6) Employee name plus last four digits only of social security number or an employee identification number;
(7) Name and address of the legal employing entity;
(8) All applicable hourly rates the employee earned during the pay period and the number of hours worked at each hourly rate; and
(9) Written notice of the amount of available paid sick leave (this last can be in a separate writing provided with the employee's wage payment).
Their stub looks good, except for one "small" thing. The one-line (redacted) company name in the upper left has only a single line address below it, listing the employer's city and zip code with four-digit extension, but not the street name and number. Result: potential violation of point 7. For an employer with 300 workers paid weekly and at the minimum $100 penalty per occurrence, this would create a possible $2,322,000 PAGA assessment.
There is no escape if a payroll company prepares the stubs. Almost any vendor's service agreement places liability for non-compliance on employer-subscriber. See, Payday Mayday, Read the Fine Print: Payroll Companies Not Responsible for Employer Compliance (January 24, 2020)
Take-Away:
On the premise that sooner or later every driver gets a speeding ticket, PAGA's stakes require periodic "friendly" internal audits to confirm or remedy workplace practices for full Labor Code compliance. Our firm is performing these reviews for clients on an accelerating pace. The cost of prevention over the possible devastation of a PAGA suit is a business-saving investment.
For more information on our help with such audits, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Tim Bowles
March 14, 2025
First the dream, hard work to follow.
First the dream, hard work to follow.
On my first contact with young West Africans -- July, 2005 in Ghana -- with their passionate optimism despite overwhelming illiteracy borne of a brutal, very recent past, I had the notion that, just maybe, we might work together to make a difference.
First step: show up, a lot. Suddenly, it's 20 years later, with so many returns to the region a blur and so many lifted by our persistence and good work, fueled through the crowd-funneled generosity of our many supporters.
And so, in the fading light on a recent Tuesday, I again exit the Robertsfield terminal into the arms of Mother Liberia. Yes, back again, that charcoal-flavored stabbing heat. Jay takes it from here, NGO standard-issue Land Cruiser, into town over highway paved in more places now, rough going in others, standard-issue Africa. Yes, back again people, to chip away at a broken education system and replace its fragments with something meaningful.
Liberia's education system is not just struggling; it is reeling from the devastation of 14 years of intermittent civil war (1989-2003) that shredded its infrastructure, decimated its teaching workforce, and left an entire generation without stable schooling. Over twenty years later, the scars remain: over half the population cannot read or write at basic levels, some 20,000 teachers to serve a youth population exceeding 1.5 million with a pedagogy that clings to rote memorization, borrowing material to recite it at exam, then handing it back, forgotten.
The 30 noble articles of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) mean nothing in a dwindling spiral of illiteracy.
We are devoted to training instructors in a better approach, L. Ron Hubbard's Study Technology ("Study Tech"), education geared to ability and competent application. Yet, such a powerful tool means little without things like a power grid that keeps the air conditioning going and students who start the workday already fed. Here, those are luxuries, not givens. And yet, every day, here are these Liberians, showing up and sticking through, with humility and humor. The results? Priceless, for example:
"After completing the 'Fundamentals of Learning' and 'Study Tools for Educators' courses, my career took an incredible turn. Armed with newfound skills in the fundamentals of learning -- how to study for full understanding and application -- I have a fresh perspective on education.
"I am not only empowered personally but able to mentor my fellow youth, helping them to develop and even improve upon what I have learned. I am determined to play a significant role in rebuilding our nation. By advocating for improved teaching methods, we will create a more effective and inclusive education system that benefits everyone." FMG
There lies the real pay. And so, we show up.
See also,
● Breaking the Fever: African Literacy and Ebola Recovery (2016)
● African Literacy Campaign - 2025
Tim Bowles
March 7, 2025
On the recent trend to direct workers back to the office, employers should not overlook teleworking as a reasonable accommodation for a disabled employee.
On the recent trend to direct workers back to the office, employers should not overlook teleworking as a reasonable accommodation for a disabled employee.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Federal Express Corporation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for its refusal to accommodate a disabled 30-year dispatcher's request to telework because of physical disabilities affecting her ability to walk.
FedEx cited an "operational need" for all dispatchers to work in-office, which the EEOC rejected, citing that the company had remote dispatching for three years during the pandemic.
EEOC Regional Attorney Kimberly A. Cruz stated:
Allowing an employee to work at home can be a reasonable accommodation where the person's disability prevents them from successfully performing the job on-site and the job, or parts of the job, can be performed at home without causing significant difficulty or expense. Before denying such accommodation requests, companies must sincerely evaluate whether the accommodations can be made, whether they would require significant difficulty or expense, and/or whether alternative accommodations exist."
Take-Aways:
Management must engage in an interactive process with disabled employees to find reasonable accommodations short of undue hardship to the employer.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Helena Kobrin
March 7, 2025
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health(Cal/OSHA) has issued $529,640 in citations to Smelly Mel's Plumbing and Sewer Rat Plumbing after a trench collapsed on a San Mateo sewer line construction site, seriously injuring a worker buried under debris.
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued $529,640 in citations to Smelly Mel's Plumbing and Sewer Rat Plumbing after a trench collapsed on a San Mateo sewer line construction site, seriously injuring a worker buried under debris.
The citations were for:
Cal/OSHA Chief Debra Lee stated that: "Trench collapses remain one of the most serious hazards in construction, and employers must take all necessary steps to protect their employees. These citations serve as a reminder that businesses must prioritize worker safety, especially during high-risk operations to avoid tragic accidents."
Take-Aways:
Employers must not ignore safety, including the state-mandated Illness and Injury Prevention Program (IIPP). Workers' health and even lives -- and the avoidance of potentially enormous fines -- depend on having proper safety precautions.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Helena Kobrin
February 28, 2025
As of February 3, 2025, California employers no longer have to maintain aCOVID-19 model written programor provide written notice to close contacts and COVID cases.
As of February 3, 2025, California employers no longer have to maintain a COVID-19 model written program or provide written notice to close contacts and COVID cases.
COVID-related reporting and recordkeeping requirements, however, remain in effect until February 3, 2026, requiring California employers to:
As a reminder, California employers must always:
Take-Aways:
Employers should comply with the above; properly implement all appropriate safety and health precautions; and monitor Cal/OSHA's website for any new updates.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
Cindy Bamforth
February 27, 2025
California Labor Code section 515.6exempts certain licensed physicians and surgeons from overtime compensation upon receipt of specified minimum hourly compensation.
California Labor Code section 515.6 exempts certain licensed physicians and surgeons from overtime compensation upon receipt of specified minimum hourly compensation.
California's Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has announced its rate increases for this minimum, effective January 1, 2025, to $103.75, up from $101.22, reflecting the 2.5% increase in the California Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
To avoid California overtime premium rates, employers will need to pay such eligible professionals that minimum hourly rate, keeping accurate track of hours worked.
An exempt physician or surgeon must also meet each of the Labor Code section 515.6 skills and duties criteria. Among these, the employee must be "primarily engaged" (more than 50% of the time) in duties requiring licensure.
California Business and Professions Code section 2052 specifies such duties, requiring a medical license for anyone who "diagnoses, treats, operates for, or prescribes for any ailment, blemish, deformity, disease, disfigurement, disorder, injury, or other physical or mental condition of any person."
Physicians and surgeons paid on a salary basis will not qualify for this exemption, but may otherwise qualify for the administrative, executive or professional exemptions from overtime. Each category possesses its own distinct requirements.
See also:
For more information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
Cindy Bamforth
February 19, 2025