A new decision from the California Court of Appeals in Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, Inc. confirms that an employee can prospectively waive a future meal period for a shift that does not exceed 6 hours so long as the prospective waiver is in writing, uncoerced, and revocable. Under California law, non-exempt employees must receive a… Read More
Posts Tagged With: meal period
CA Supreme Court: Meal/Rest Period “Premium Pay” Is Wages
On May 22, 2022, the California Supreme Court held in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc. that premium payments owed by an employer to a non-exempt employee for missed meal/rest periods are “wages” and not penalties. Thus, when those premium payments are owed but not timely paid, the employer can be subject to additional penalties… Read More
Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades – Not Meal Periods
In the most significant meal periods decision in almost ten years, the California Supreme Court on February 25, 2021 decided Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC. While the Court in Donohue made clear that as long as meal periods are provided, employers do not have to “police” employees and force them to take meal periods, the… Read More
Court Invalidates Wage Order Meal Period Waiver Rules for Healthcare Employees
Wage Orders 4 and 5 have long permitted employees in the “healthcare industry” who work longer than 8 hours in a day to voluntarily waive one of their two meal periods. However, on February 10, 2015, California’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled in Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center that these provisions of… Read More
CA Supreme Court Depublishes Two Post-Brinker Opinions
Following the CA Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision in Brinker last year, which I blogged about here, California’s lower courts were left to resolve the numerous meal and rest break cases that were ordered held pending the resolution of Brinker. Two of these cases received an extraordinary amount of press coverage, and both were ultimately decided in favor of California employers…. Read More
