California law requires employees who are paid on an hourly basis to take rest and meal breaks.
Rest Periods
Every employee must take a rest break of 10 minutes for each 4 hours of scheduled work, or a major fraction thereof. If an employee’s workday is less than 3 ½ hours, no rest break is required and none should be taken unless the employee first obtains authorization from the employee’s manager.
- If the workday is between 3 ½ and 6 hours, the employee may take one 10-minute rest break.
- If the workday is between 6 and 10 hours, the employee may take two 10-minute rest breaks.
- If the workday is between 10 and 14 hours, the employee may take three 10-minute rest breaks.
In the event an employee should work more than 14 hours, the number and timing of rest breaks shall be calculated in the same manner.
A rest break is considered time worked and should not be recorded on an employee’s time card. An employee may choose not to take a rest break or to take a rest break that is fewer than 10 minutes in length. Rest breaks should be taken as close to the middle of each 4-hour work period as practicable. A rest break shall not be added to a meal period, nor should it be taken at the beginning or end of a shift.
Employees are required to take their rest periods, as described above.
View the CA Rest Break reference guide.
Meal Periods
After a work period of more than 5 hours, an hourly employee must be provided an uninterrupted 30-minute off-duty meal break. This meal period must begin no later than the end of the employee’s 5th hour of work, and the employee is expected to take this meal break in full. If, however, an employee’s workday is no more than 6 hours, the employee may elect to waive the off-duty meal period in advance by written agreement with the company.
After a work period of more than 10 hours, a second uninterrupted 30-minute off-duty meal break must be provided to an hourly employee. This second meal period must begin no later than the end of the 10th hour of work, and the employee is expected to take this meal break in full. An employee may elect to waive the second off-duty meal period in advance by written agreement with the company as long as the employee’s workday does not exceed 12 hours.
- An employee should be relieved from all duties during these 30-minute meal breaks, and the employee must accurately record the time of day he or she began and ended the meal period. A meal period during which the employee is relieved of all duties is not considered time worked and thus the employee will not be paid for the meal break.
- An employee may not add rest periods to a meal period so that he or she can take a longer meal period.
- An employee also may not report to work later than scheduled or leave work early instead of taking a meal period.
Employees are required to accurately complete time records to include the start and end time of the meal break(s) taken each day. Failure to accurately record meal breaks may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
If at any time an employee believes that someone is preventing them from taking or interfering with the employee’s ability to take an authorized rest or meal period, the employee immediately should report the matter to Populus Group. The employee will suffer no retaliation for reporting this matter.