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California Meal Breaks & Rest Periods
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When
am I required to have rest and meal periods on
the job in CA State?
Am
I an independent contractor or
an employee and does it make
a difference?
What
work time do I have to be compensated for?What
work time do I have to be compensated
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When am I required to have
rest and meal periods on the job in CA State?
California law provides that employees must receive
a 30 minute meal break if they work in excess of five
hours. During this time, the employee must be relieved
of all duties because it cannot be a working lunch.
If an employer fails to give a proper meal break, the
employee can recover one hour of pay at their regular
rate of pay for each day they are not provided a proper
meal break.
There are exceptions to the rules regarding meal breaks and
rest period laws in California. A bona fide "exempt" employee
is not subject to this rule. If the work day is less than six
hours, the employee can agree to waive the time period. Under
the California labor law for meal breaks, in the health care
industry, an employee can agree, in writing, to waive this
meal period. Further, employees working under a collective
bargaining agreement may not be subject to the rules regarding
meal periods.
In some cases, an
"on duty" meal break can be provided only when the
nature of the job prevents the employee from being relieved
of duty and if there is a written agreement between the employer
and employee. The written agreement shall state that the employee
may revoke the agreement at any time.
These rules only apply to employees in California.
Federal law does not have a meal time requirement.
California Law Meal Breaks & Rest Periods
California labor law requires that employees get rest breaks
if they work over three and a half hours a day. These mandatory
breaks must be in the middle of each work period and must be
10 minutes for every four hours worked or fraction thereof.
Rest breaks are work
If an employer fails to provide an employee a rest period,
the employee can recover one hour of pay for each work day
that the rest period is not provided under the California meal
period law.
An exception to the rule is made for bona fide
"exempt" employees. They are not subject to this
rule.
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Am I an independent
contractor or an employee and does it make a difference?
Whether a worker is an "employee" or
an "independent contractor"
makes a big difference. Independent contractors are not entitled
to many benefits that must be offered to employees, such as
overtime pay, health and pension benefits, social security
credits, protection against discrimination, and unemployment
insurance. Some employers wrongly classify their workers as "independent
contractors" to avoid providing those benefits. It is
in your best interest to know whether you are properly classified
as an employee or independent contractor.
Recently, there have been some noteworthy cases where employers
mistakenly classified employees as independent contractors.
The Allstate Insurance Company announced that it agreed to
pay $19.5 million to 292 agents who claimed the good hands
people wrongly changed their status from
"employees" to "independent contractors" .
This settlement came after Allstate settled the claims of another
1,000 agents for $22 million. In another case, Microsoft agreed
to pay $96.9 million to employees who contended that they were
not temporary, independent contractors but really permanent
employees of Microsoft.
Courts use different tests for workers for deciding different
issues, but there are some common principles. In wage and hour
cases, they focus on the following factors:
The degree of control
the employer exercises over the day-to-day work performed;
The amount of the
worker's investment in facilities and work equipment;
The degree to which
the worker's independent initiative, judgment and planning
is necessary for the success of the worker's operation;
The permanency of
the relationship between the employer and the worker;
The extent to which
the services are a part of the employer's business;
How dependent is the
worker on the employer for continued work.
The courts will look to all
the facts of a particular case and compare them to the appropriate
factors. Thus, the employees should understand that an agreement
that he or she is an independent contractor, though important,
will not decide the case.
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What work time do I have to be compensated for?
Employees must be paid their
wages for all of their work time. Work time is any time spent
engaged in work that benefits the employer in some way. This
includes work at home, opening and closing duties, pre-shift
and post-shift work, and anything that is considered "an
integral and indispensable" part of the employee's principal
work. For example, time spent sharpening knives by a butcher
is "an integral and indispensable" part of the
butcher's work.
An employee is at work all hours he or she is under their employer's
control and cannot engage in private pursuits. A worker who
has to wait until they have an assignment is working and must
be compensated. Likewise, if an employee is on-call and has
restrictions on the use of free time, then that employee should
be considered at work.
Even for unauthorized overtime,
an employee must be compensated. An employer cannot "accept
the fruits of the employees' labor" without paying their
employees. Therefore, policies such as "employees will
not be paid for unapproved overtime" will not win in
court.
Perhaps the worst violations
occur when supervisors urge their employees to clock out
and then continue work. Employers cannot escape liability
by refusing to keep records of their employee's "off-the-clock"
work. In such cases, the law allows the employee to use reasonable
estimates to reconstruct their work time.
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Harris & Kaufman Can Help |
Harris & Kaufman is a California law firm that's dedicated
to representing employees in disputes against their employers
regarding California State labor and employee law. Our lawyers
can assist you if you believe that your employer has broken the
California Labor Laws to do with meal periods.
Our California attorneys are experienced and have had numerous
trials, arbitrations, and have litigated on behalf of thousands
of employees.
Harris & Kaufman has represented workers in state and
federal court and in administrative proceedings before the
California Labor Commissioner. Determined and aggressive,
our cases include individual disputes and class action lawsuits.
Based in Sherman Oaks, CA we serve greater Los Angeles, Orange
County, Ventura County, and have cases statewide.
Think
you have a claim? Email
Here
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