Wouldn’t it be great if your boss bought you lunch every day for the next 3 years? Notwithstanding a mutual agreement to the contrary, if your employer does not permit you to receive at least a 30 minute break for lunch, he could be paying you much more than the cost of your lunch! Take 2 minutes to read this article and arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make sure you are getting both rest and nutrition under California Overtime Pay Laws. Take a look at these 3 insider tips on making sure you get your just “desserts.”

Insider Tip #1 California Overtime Law provides employees must receive a 30 minute meal break if they work more than five hours in a day. The employee must be relieved of all duties simply because a working lunch under California Overtime Law is not permitted. If an employer doesn’t give a suitable meal break, the employee can retrieve one hour of pay at the regular rate of pay for each day they are not supplied a suitable meal break.

Insider Tip #2 When it comes to the California Labor Law Overtime, there are exceptions to the rules regarding meal breaks. A bona fide “exempt” employee is no subject to this rule. The employee can agree to waive the time period if the work day is less than six hours; this can be waived in writing in the health industry if the employee agrees. However, under the California Labor Law Overtime, employees working under a collective bargaining agreement may not be subject to rules regarding meal periods. An “on duty” meal break can be provided only when the nature of the job prevents the employee from being relieved of duty, if there is a written agreement between the employer and employee. The written agreement should declare that the employee may revoke the written agreement any time. California Overtime rules have a meal time requirement, unlike federal law.

A California Overtime Attorney, adds, “There has been an on-going debate in the courts in California as to whether lunch breaks should be treated as a wage or a penalty. The impact to employees is that if the courts treat lunch breaks as a wage, then the employee can go back 3 and sometimes 4 years and recover one hour of wages for each meal break the employer failed to provide. On the other hand if the courts rule that meal breaks are a penalty only one year would apply.”

California Overtime Law Rules - Mandatory Rest Breaks

Insider Tip #3 California Labor Law Overtime requires employees rest breaks if they work over three and a half hours in a day. The mandatory breaks must be in the middle of each work period and must be 10 minutes for every four hours worked or even a fraction thereof. Under California Overtime regulations, rest breaks are work time and the employee has to be paid for the rest breaks. If an employer doesn’t provide an employee a rest period, the employee can retrieve one hour of pay for each work day that the rest period is not given. Bona fide “exempt” employees are not subject to this overtime rule.

Attorneys in California can help individuals in a wage dispute to recover overtime pay, rest breaks and meal periods, and other violations of the California Labor Law Overtime. These and other regulations under Overtime Law exist to help guarantee you receive the salary rightfully earned. California Overtime attorneys can help ensure you receive withheld overtime pay and other allowances due you.

When it comes to overtime, employers are confronted with huge penalties if they retaliate against employees who pursue their wages, overtime pay and other benefits. Under Overtime Law, employers can’t demote, fire or harass employees because they seek the fair wage. With California Overtime Law, to secure employees, statutes provide for damages, injunctive relief ordering the employer to avoid prohibited conduct and monitoring the employer’s interest, behavior, attorney’s fees and costs.