The Ever-Changing Meal Break Issue
Recently, the 4th District Court of Appeal struck down class status for approximately 60,000 California restaurant workers who sued over rest and meal breaks. This ruling is the first time an appeals court has defined the legal requirements for employee rest and meal breaks. The Appellate Court concluded that while employers cannot discourage or keep employees from taking rest periods, “they need only provide, not ensure, that rest periods and meal breaks are taken;” employers must only authorize and permit rest breaks during a set time, but they do not have to occur in the middle of the work period; employers are not required to provide a meal break for every five consecutive hours worked (instead employees may take their first meal break right away, and the second meal period need not occur within five hours of the end of the first five hour period but is due only after 10 hours of total work, even if the first meal period occurs very early in the shift); and employers can be held liable for employees working off the clock only if the employer know or should have known the employees were doing so. The Appellate Court further concluded that “the off-the-clock claims are also not amendable to class treatment as individual issues predominate” on the issue of whether an employer forced employees to work off the clock, whether the employer changed the time records, and whether the employer knew or should have known that employees were working off the clock. Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Sup. Ct. of San Diego County, D049331.
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