California law provides hourly, non-exempt employees with the right to meal periods and rest breaks. The Company complies with these laws, and expects its California managers to manage and enforce compliance. Managers who fail to do so may be subject to corrective action up to and including termination of employment.

Use the chart and guidelines below to ensure that all hourly, non-exempt employees are provided the opportunity to take off-duty meal periods and rest breaks consistent with California law.

California Meal and Rest Breaks

Hours Worked

30 Minute Unpaid Meal Periods

15 Minute Rest Breaks

0 - 3.5

0

0

3.5 - 5

0

1

5 - 6

1

 

Potential Exceptions: Employee can waive first meal period if he/she works 6 hours or less.

 

How to Record: Employees must clock out at beginning of meal period and clock back in at end of meal period and designate that time as a meal period in the POS system.

1

How to Record:

Employees should not clock out/clock in for rest breaks in the POS system.

6 - 10

1

2

10 - 12

2

Potential Exception: Employee can waive second meal period if he/she works 12 hours or less and did not waive first meal period.

3
12 -14 2

3
  • Provide Compliant Meal Periods: If a shift exceeds  5 hours, employees must be provided the opportunity to take an unpaid,  30-minute meal period by the end of their 5th hour of work (e.g., if an employee comes in at 9:00 a.m., he/she must start his/her meal period by 1:59 p.m.). If a shift exceeds 10 hours, employees must also be provided a second meal period by the end of their 10th hour of work.
  • Provide Compliant Rest Breaks: Employees must be provided the opportunity to take paid rest breaks of 10 consecutive minutes (or 15 minutes per Company policy) for every 4 hours worked or any major fraction of a 4 hour period.  Employees should not clock out for rest breaks.
    • Rest breaks should occur as close to middle of work period as practical.
    • Rest breaks cannot be combined with meal periods, and a succession of smaller breaks throughout the day cannot be combined to meet the rest break requirement(s)
  • Provide Duty Free Meal Periods and Rest Breaks: Employees must be completely relieved of all work and allowed to leave the store during both meal periods and rest breaks.
    • Employees may voluntarily choose to waive or stay in the store for their meal period or rest break, but managers cannot require or encourage them to do so.
  • Monitor Employee Meal Periods and Rest Breaks. Employees who are not provided the opportunity to take a proper meal period or rest break should report this to management.
    • Kronos: If employee claim is valid, managers should confirm 1 hour of premium pay via meal period pop up question or manually input 1 hour of pay using the "CA Meal Rest Pay" pay code.
    • EyeNet: If employee claim is valid, managers should manually input 1 hour of premium pay using the "Meal Rest" pay code.

For question regarding California Meal & Rest Breaks, please submit an E-Service Consultation Request via the Employee Relations icon on My Personal Desk. Please refer here to determine if Employee Relations support is required before proceeding.

Meal Periods and Rest Breaks - Best Practices

  • Require employees to notify the manager and/or another authorized employee before leaving the store for meal periods or rest breaks.
  • Communicate in advance when employees should take their meal periods and rest breaks.
  • Do not combine meal periods with other paid breaks, and do not schedule meal periods/rest breaks back-to-back.
  • Meal periods and rest breaks should be duty free that is, the employee should be completely relieved of all work and permitted to leave the store.
  • Do not wait until payroll sign-off to review whether employees are taking meal periods. Review time sheets on a daily and weekly basis for proper meal period times (use time table provided above as a reference).
  • Try to schedule meal breaks by the beginning of the fifth hour of work (no sooner than one hour after the start of an employee's scheduled work period). This allows for a 1-hour buffer, and avoids last minute customer surprises that may occur if you wait to make it available until the end of the fifth hour.

Example:

If employee comes in at 9:00 AM, schedule the meal break for 1:00 PM rather than 1:45 PM.  This provides extra time before 1:59 PM to handle any pressing business matters that may arise.