Most people are aware of lawsuits filed to recover unpaid overtime wages, but what happens if an employer does not allow its employees to take meal breaks and/or rest breaks that are required by California law? The answer is that companies are increasingly facing lawsuits for such violations. In addition, the potential awards against employers for meal and rest period violations have at least tripled. Therefore, it is possible that each employee who has not been allowed the required meal or rest break can recover up to $10,000 or more.
In general, California law requires employers to provide employees with a rest break of at least 10 minutes every four hours, and a meal break of at least 30 minutes every five hours. There are some additional requirements and there are some exceptions to these requirements but the significant majority of employees are entitled to the aforementioned breaks.
If an employer is found responsible for meal or rest break violations, each employee who did not receive the required break is entitled to one additional hour of pay for each day that employee did not receive the required break. For many years, courts have ruled a victimized employee could only receive one additional hour of pay for up to one year of missed breaks. However, in April 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled the period of time an employee could recover damages for meal or rest break violations was now increased to three years. Therefore, an employee who makes $10 per hour who did not receive the required meal or rest break for three years can now seek up to around $7,500 in damages plus attorney fees and possibly punitive damages. For larger companies that did not provide the required breaks, the stakes are substantial. One recent verdict was against the Chinese Daily News of Monterey Park, the largest Chinese language paper in the United States. In that case, 200 current and former employees received a jury award of $2.5 million for meal break, rest-break and overtime violations.
Both employers and employees need to pay more attention to rest and meal breaks. Employees should be aware of their rights and that substantial awards are possible if their rights are violated. Employers need to closely monitor the breaks provided to their employees so that they do not face one of the many rest and meal break claims to come in the future.
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