Meal Breaks and Rest Breaks

California Meal Break Law Requirements

California meal break laws require most employers to provide non-exempt (i.e., hourly-paid) employees who work more than 5 hours in a shift with a duty-free meal break of at least 30 minutes. The rules regarding meal breaks can vary based on job industry and position. However, generally speaking the number of meal breaks an employee is entitled to take depends on the hours they work, as follows:

SHIFT LENGTH	NUMBER OF MEAL BREAKS
Less than 5 hours	None
More than 5 hours up to 10 hours	1 Meal Break
More than 10 hours up to 15 hours	2 Meal Breaks
More than 15 hours up to 10 hours	3 Meal Breaks

Meal breaks cannot be interrupted or cut short. Employers must take steps to ensure that you are relieved of all duty and are free of their control. Employers cannot take actions that directly or indirectly impede, discourage, pressure, or coerce employees from taking meal breaks.

Meal breaks are subject to specific timing requirements. First meal periods must be taken before the end of the fifth hour of work. For example, an employee who begins working at 8:00 a.m. must be provided with the opportunity to take a first meal break no later than 12:59 p.m. Second meal periods must be taken before the end of the tenth hour of work.

Unless an employee is relieved of all duty during a meal break, the meal break is considered “on duty” and must be counted and paid as time worked. California generally prohibits on duty meal periods, unless the nature of the work prevents the employee from being relieved of all duty and the employee agrees in writing to take his or her meal periods while on duty. This is a narrow exception. One example of a job position that might be permitted to take on-duty meal periods is a security guard posted at a remote site.

California Rest Break Law Requirements

Most non-exempt employees are entitled to take an uninterrupted, paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof. The number of rest breaks an employee is entitled to take is as follows:

SHIFT LENGTH	NUMBER OF REST BREAKS
Less than 3.5 hours	None
More than 3.5 hours up to 6 hours	1 Rest Break
More than 6 hours up to 10 hours	2 Rest Breaks
More than 10 hours up to 14 hours	3 Rest Breaks
More than 14 hours up to 18 hours	4 Rest Breaks
More than 18 hours up to 22 hours	5 Rest Breaks

To the extent practicable, rest periods should be provided in the middle of each 4-hour work period. If you work a shift qualifying for 2 rest breaks, your rest breaks should be separately scheduled so that one is provided before your meal break and one is provided afterwards.

Rest breaks cannot be interrupted, cut short, or combined with other break periods. Employers must completely relieve employees of all duty during their rest breaks – this means your employer cannot require you to stay on-site, monitor a radio or cell phone, or respond to any questions or perform any work-related tasks whatsoever while you are on your break.