Work Hours and Breaks

Except for salaried, legitimately exempt-from-overtime workers, California employers must provide each employee with certain numbers of unpaid meal periods and paid rest breaks depending on how many hours that employee works in each workday.

If an employee misses one or more off-duty meal breaks by the press of a day's work, California Labor Code 226.7 requires the employer to pay an additional one-hour "break premium." The same is true for any day when work demands cause an employee to miss one or more off-duty rest breaks.

California employers should therefore include clear, properly-drafted work schedule and breaks policy in their handbooks.

Policy elements should include:

• Definition of the company's seven-day payroll workweek, within which weekly employee schedules are structured;
• The number and timing of meal breaks;
• When to take paid rest breaks;
• Cool-down periods for outside workers to prevent heat illness; and
• Work schedules for minors.

Take-Away:
Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook with an updated and California-compliant work schedules and breaks policy.

We publish this series to educate employers on best practices for a well-written handbook that assists applicants, employees, and management alike. To purchase our template handbook - which contains the above policy and much more - and accompanying forms or for more information, please contact Office Manager Aimee Rosales at 626.583.6600 or email her at officemgr@tbowleslaw.com.

See also:

• Employers Lose Food Fight - Break Premiums Ruled Wages, Must Be Reflected on Paystubs (June 3, 2022)
• Happier and Healthier - Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2022 (April 29, 2022)
• If it Isn't Written, Workplace Policy is Anyone's Guess (November 1, 2018)

Cindy Bamforth
September 23, 2022