Violation of Wage and Hour Laws

Nonexempt California employees are generally entitled to an uninterrupted, duty-free, unpaid, minimum 30 minute meal break after working a five hour shift. If those breaks are not provided or an employer urges an employee to skip his or her meal break, that is a violation of wage and hour laws.

A qualifying meal break must begin prior to the completion of hour five of an employee’s work shift. This break may only be waived if the employee’s shift does not exceed six hours.
A lawful meal break is that in which the employee is relieved of all work duties and is no longer under the direction of the employer for the duration of the break .Employees must have a practical expectation of taking a 30 minute break without interruption on the part of the employer for any cause or purpose.
In order to remain in compliance with California labor law, employers may not discourage, obstruct, or hinder any employee from taking his or her lawful meal break. Any incentives, inducements, or intimidation of an employee to refrain from taking a meal break is strictly prohibited by law.
Employers are required to provide lawful meal breaks, however, they are not bound by law to make certain that any employee exercises his or her right to those meal breaks.

Any nonexempt employee working a shift with a duration of over five hours is entitled to take one meal break that lasts a minimum of 30 minutes at no later than the fifth hour of that shift. In the event an employee is working a shift with a duration of over ten hours, that employee is entitled to take a second break that lasts a minimum of 30 minutes at no later than the tenth hour of that shift.
Keep in mind, however, the number of meal breaks to which an employee is entitled is based solely on the number of hours actually worked, not the number of hours in a work shift on an employee’s schedule. For instance, any employee who is scheduled to work a ten hour shift but, instead, works just two or three hours of that shift, the employer is not required to provide a meal break.
If an employee takes his or her meal break later than the legally mandated five hours, the employer is bound by law to compensate the employee for that additional hour at the standard hourly rate for the employee’s regular work shift.

Any employee who has worked up to six hours during one shift is allowed to waive his or her meal break under California law. A meal break waiver must be agreed upon by both employer and employee, it need not be waived in writing, and any employee who has worked a shift that has lasted longer than ten hours but won’t extend beyond twelve hours is entitled to waive his or her second meal break but only if the preceding first meal break was taken.
Employees are not entitled to waive both meal breaks in the course of one work shift and any employee who has waived his or her meal break and chosen to work through that break is not automatically eligible to leave work sooner than expected as a result.

Employees who hold job positions in which taking a standard meal break is not feasible due to the nature of the work are still entitled to meal breaks. These are described as “on-duty” meal breaks and are typically applied to employees who don’t have the ability to leave their work site or shift as a result of the type of work they are hired to perform.
For instance, a security guard who is unable to leave his or her post would be eligible to take on-duty meal breaks since that employee cannot be relieved of duties or depart the workplace to take his or her meal break.
In situations such as this, the employee is entitled to on-duty meal breaks which are paid breaks and must be agreed to by both employee and employer in writing. Under California law, the employee must be given the opportunity to end such an arrangement at any time.
If the employee misses his or her provided meal break, that employee is not entitled to compensation for that time.

There are instances where employees may have no choice but to take a meal break at the workplace. In these situations, the employer must provide the employee with an appropriate area in which to consume their meal. This meal break still requires the employer to relieve the employee of his or her duties (except in situations where the employee is unable to be relieved of those duties due to the nature of his or her job position) and the employee is entitled to receive payment during this meal break, even if the employee is not effectively “on the clock” as he or she has been relieved of typical duty.
For any meal break that takes place in the course of a work shift between the hours of 10:00pm and 6:00am, the employer is required by law to provide employees with a safe and appropriate sheltered space for consuming food and beverages, as well as fully functional amenities for heating food and beverages and storing hot food and beverages.

California employees should also receive shorter, paid rest breaks at regular intervals during their workday. These breaks should be ten minutes in length, consecutive and uninterrupted, and all work must stop during this time.

Denial of one or more of these breaks in a day may be seen as multiple labor code violations.

A qualifying rest break must be taken over ten consecutive minutes, without interruption, in which the employee is not expected to perform any of his or her job duties in that time and the employer must offer an appropriate rest area or facility that is something other than a public restroom.
Employees are entitled to take rest breaks away from the workplace if they so choose and are not to be considered “on-call” for the duration of the ten minutes. Rest breaks are to be paid by the employer.

All California employers are bound by state labor laws to provide employees with a ten minute rest break for every four hours worked during the workday. If an employee works a six hour work shift, he or she is entitled to a ten minute work break after the first four hours worked, but with two hours remaining, the employee would not be entitled to an additional ten minute work break.
If that same employee works a seven or eight hour workday, then he or she would be entitled to two ten minute breaks. In the case of the former, since the employee worked for seven hours, he or she would be allowed to take two ten minute breaks because the first ten minute rest break would be applied to the first four hours of the shift and the second ten minute rest break would be applied to the remaining three hours of the shift.
Three hours? But that’s not four hours. Under California labor laws, if the employee works more than half of the four hours applicable in California, those hours would count towards a ten minute rest break. Three hours is more than half of four and, therefore, applicable towards an additional ten minute rest break.
But keep in mind, under the law, if an employee only works three hours on a shift, he or she is not entitled to a ten minute rest break.

Employees are entitled to waive rest breaks at their discretion. Unlike meal breaks, rest breaks do not require both employee and employer to agree on a waived rest break ahead of time.
But just like with meal breaks, in order to remain compliant with California labor law, employers may not discourage, obstruct, or hinder any employee from taking his or her lawful ten minute rest break. Any incentives, inducements, or intimidation of an employee to waive his or her rest break is strictly prohibited by law.

The minimum wage in the state of California is currently $16.00 an hour, though some cities and counties may exceed the state's minimum rate. Employers who commit minimum wage violations may be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 per violation.

All employers are bound by law to pay employees a wage commensurate with the current minimum wage in the state of California. Employees are not legally empowered to work for any compensation that is less than minimum wage. Any agreement reached between employee and employer is considered null and void as a means for waiving minimum wage compensation as a condition of employment. This is considered a violation of California labor law.

Employers are prohibited by law to include tips earned during any work shift as a portion of an employee’s minimum wage threshold. Those tips are separate from the employee’s standard pay rate and must be considered an additional form of compensation alongside the current minimum wage that an employer is expected to pay to remain in compliance with California wage and hour laws.

Employees who qualify for overtime pay but have not received this compensation are victims of wage violations in California. Each violation could subject the employer to a fine of up to $1,000 per violation.

Overtime compensation is a rate of one and a half times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked more than the standard eight hours of a typical workday, two times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked beyond twelve hours of a typical workday, and the first eight hours of a seventh consecutive day worked in a typical workweek.

Employers are bound by law to pay overtime compensation for all employees who are entitled to receive this additional compensation, even those employees who worked unauthorized overtime in the course of their workday. Whether or not the employee was granted authorization to work overtime is inapplicable to his or her ability to be compensated for that time worked.
Under California law, an employer is obligated to pay overtime to any employee who was permitted to perform his or her job duties whether or not they were authorized to perform that work beyond the normal eight hours of a typical workday. In the eyes of the law, this is work that an employer knew was being performed or should have been aware of and, therefore, is obligated to pay the appropriate wage. Conversely, the law limits an employee’s ability to preclude his or her employer from learning of the unauthorized overtime hours being logged by the employee and then demanding compensation for those hours, but the onus falls on the employer to be fully aware of the employee’s work hours and remains bound by law to provide the employee with appropriate overtime compensation for work performed in which the employer profits and the organization can enjoy the benefits of that work.

As per California wage and hour laws, employees are not permitted to waive overtime compensation and any agreement between employer and employee to that effect is considered a violation of the law. No waiver exists that allows an employer to be released from his or her obligation to pay overtime compensation and the employee remains entitled to receive all standard workday wages and overtime compensation that reflects the hours worked.