Guide to CA Break Laws | Blog

Advanced Tools for Complete Compliance

Timerack Keeps Businesses and Employees Safe

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, it’s easy to get caught up in the demands of the job. Unfortunately, businesses might not prioritize the rights and well-being of their greatest assets: their employees. Under CA break laws, every worker is entitled to rest and meal breaks. Not only does taking breaks keep employees fueled and focused, but it also keeps them healthy.

To better serve clients and candidates, staffing firms must understand and adhere to the Golden State’s break laws. If they don’t, they’ll be facing hefty fines and penalties. It can also cost staffing agencies customers and their reputation.Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about CA break laws and how Timerack’s intelligent time and labor tools can help your firm achieve and maintain complete CA break compliance.

CA Meal Break Laws 101

Under CA law, meal breaks are uninterrupted, unpaid 30-minute breaks to which every employee is legally entitled. Businesses must respect employees’ break rights and never discourage them from taking or incentivizing them to skip meal breaks.

The number of hours an employee works during their shift determines the timing of their breaks. Hourly employees can take one 30-minute meal break every five hours.

For example, if an hourly employee starts their shift at 9 AM, they are legally entitled to a meal break anytime before 2 PM (5th hour), unless the total work period is less than 6 hours and meal is waived by mutual consent.

Businesses must give employees working 10-hour shifts or more a second 30-minute meal break before their shift ends.

According to The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) In California, employers must provide all employees who work more than five hours per day with a meal break of at least 30 minutes. If the employee works no more than six hours that day, the employee and employer may mutually agree to waive the meal break.

If the employee works more than 10 hours per day, a second meal period of not less than 30 minutes is required. This meal break can also be waived, with mutual consent, if the employee’s total hours for the day do not exceed 12 hours AND they did not waive the first meal break.

Despite what the name implies, employees aren’t legally required to eat during their breaks—although if they’re hungry, they should definitely grab some snacks! During their meal breaks, employees can run errands, attend to personal affairs, or take a stroll through the park.

California law states that employees are excused from all work-related responsibilities during meal breaks. They have complete freedom with how they choose to spend those 30 minutes. Even employees working alone—like a nighttime security guard—are legally relieved of their duties during meal breaks.

CA Rest Break Laws 101

In addition to meal breaks, some employees are also legally permitted to take rest breaks. Employees can take a paid 10-minute rest break every four hours worked or major fractions of that period. Employees working six hours or more can take a second 10-minute rest break.

Let’s say an employee is working an eight-hour shift. They are entitled to two 10-minute rest breaks every four hours. If an employee’s shift is less than four hours long, they are not legally entitled to have a rest break.

Under California law, only non-exempt—or hourly—employees are permitted to take rest breaks. However, employees who are breastfeeding can feed their infants during breaks.

Penalties for CA Break Noncompliance

If a business refuses to let employees take a meal or rest break, they will be required to financially compensate workers for that time. This is known as “premium pay.”

According to CalChamber, for each workday that an employer fails to provide an employee a meal break as required, they will owe the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay. The additional hour of pay is a wage owed to the employee, for which the employee has up to three years to file a claim for any unpaid wages.

In United Parcel Service v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, a California Court of Appeal ruled that meal and rest periods are separate requirements. Therefore, if an employer fails to provide both meal and rest periods in a single day, they must pay the employee an additional two hours of pay, not one.

Employers must pay unpaid premium payments at the time of an employee’s termination or resignation. Failure to do so results in waiting time penalties, which are awarded at a rate of one day of pay for every day the wages are outstanding for up to 30 days.

Waiting time penalties must appear on an employee’s pay stub. Failure to comply costs businesses $50 in penalties for the first violation and $100 for every subsequent pay stub. Repeat offenders may have to pay penalties as high as $4,000 per employee.

3 Ways Timerack Helps Staffing Agencies Stay Compliant

Timerack’s intelligent time-management tools help staffing firms and clients comply with CA break laws in three ways:

Time tracking and scheduling: These features allow employers to automate break tracking and customize break policies. Our scheduling tools ensure proper break coverage for all employees.
Reporting and analytics: Eliminate tedious break compliance reporting tasks and reduce costly errors through automation. Employers can also identify potential violations or issues before they arise and effortlessly generate audit-ready documentation.
Employee self-service: Our time-management software lets employees view and manage their breaks easily. This streamlines communication around break policies, improves transparency, and encourages employees to report problems.

Seamless Integration and Scalability

Timerack’s tools can be seamlessly integrated with your existing payroll and HR systems, including ADP, Paychex, QuickBooks, Ceridian, and more. Managing time, labor, and breaks has never been easier!

Our tools are scalable and adapt to your growing staff and changing needs. Plus, staffing firms can achieve centralized break compliance management across multiple locations.

Become a CA Break Law Connoisseur

Just like we all need to eat, all CA employers must comply with state break laws. Timerack’s state-of-the-art time management solutions make it easy for staffing firms to achieve and maintain compliance, avoid hefty penalties, and take great care of their employees.