Essential Tips for Meal and Rest Period Compliance for California Employers

Compliance with meal and rest break requirements can be complex legal terrain to navigate where missteps can lead to legal claims for California employers. This blog post provides a high-level summary of California requirements, along with some practical tips to improve and maintain compliance.  

California’s Meal and Rest Break Laws (Current in 2025) 

California law requires that non-exempt (hourly) employees are provided with legally compliant meal and rest breaks for employees. These requirements include:  

• A paid, uninterrupted off-duty 10-minute rest period for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof.  

• An uninterrupted off-duty 30-minute unpaid meal break when working more than five hours in a day, except if exempted by a valid meal period waiver.  

• An additional 30-minute unpaid meal break when working more than 12 hours in a day, except if exempted by a valid meal period waiver.  

These meal and rest break periods must be separate, so as not to combined. Employers cannot require employees to take one single, longer break in lieu of multiple shorter breaks.  

Timing of meal and rest breaks  

It is important that meal and rest periods are taken as required by applicable law. Indeed, ensuring compliance with meal and rest periods also requires ensuring they are taken in a timely fashion. It is generally advisable that rest breaks be taken in the middle of each four-hour work period or major fraction thereof. For non-exempt employees working more than five hours in a workday, the first meal period should be taken within the first four and a half hours of work and not start later than the end of the fifth hour of work (subject to any meal period waiver in effect).   

Other meal and rest period employer obligations 

Employees must not be ‘on call’ during the break 

Employees must be free to leave the workplace premises and relieved of all duty during meal and rest periods. They should be free to spend their time as they please and not be responsible for any work (including checking email, phones, etc.). They should be restrained only by the time provided for the meal or rest period.  

If the employee is required to stay in the workplace or reachable (i.e., by cell, radio) then the meal or rest period is not legally compliant,  and the employer must either provide another meal or rest period or pay a premium, as outlined below.  

Employers must pay employees a premium for missed or non-compliant meal and rest periods 

• For a missed or non-compliant rest period, the employer must pay the employee for one hour of work at the employee’s regular rate of pay for each workday that a rest period is not provided.  

• For a missed or non-compliant meal break, the employer must pay the employee one hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay for each workday that a meal period is not provided. There are exceptions to this in workplaces where the nature of the work prevents an employee from being relieved of all duty and where the employer and employee have a written agreement that allows an on-the-job paid meal period. However, this exemption is rarely applicable and should be used with caution and after seeking legal advice.  

Employees may waive meal periods in certain instances 

In certain instances, non-exempt employees may voluntarily elect to waive meal periods. For example, the first meal period may only be waived if an employee’s total work period for the day is more than five hours per day but no more than six hours.  The best practice is for employees to waive meal periods in writing, making it clear that they have waived the meal period and that they can revoke the waiver at any time.   

What to do if hourly employees aren’t taking their mandatory breaks 

Use an electronic timekeeping system

Your corporate timekeeping system should allow hourly employees to easily clock in and out when they arrive and leave, including clocking in and out for meal periods. Be aware that the system should not round the arrival time and departure times to ensure accurate tracking. While California law doesn’t require employers to use any particular system, it is generally recommended that employers use electronic timekeeping systems. Electronic systems can reduce mistakes, make time tracking easier, and streamline storage and retrieval of timesheets. Many timekeeping software providers also monitor compliance and can automate the process of flagging violations.  

Train hourly employees – and supervisors

Hourly employees should be trained to ensure that they know and understand their meal and rest break entitlements.  This training should be provided as part of the onboarding process, and reiterated at least once each year.  

Supervisors, management, and HR should also receive regular training about the importance of compliance with the meal and rest break requirements in California. They should know and understand their obligations, including regularly reviewing timesheets, and they should promote a culture of compliance. To do so, supervisors should ensure that hourly employees aren’t pressured to skip breaks and are encouraged to report violations as early as possible.  

Make it clear when an employee is on a break

It should be clear to other employees when a person is on a break. This empowers other employees to respect their entitlement to the meal or rest period and promotes a culture of compliance.  

Employers should encourage employees to spend time away from their desk during their meal and rest periods. You should also create visual cues so team members know when a person is on their break. Consider:

• An ‘On Break’ status on Slack or other similar communication software.  
• Create ‘On Break’ signs for employees to place on their desks during their meal and rest periods for on-site workers.  

Send regular ‘reminder’ emails to hourly employees. 

You should schedule and send regular reminder emails to your hourly employees about their meal and rest break entitlements, as well as your internal processes for employees taking their breaks. Supervisors should also have access to template emails for employees who are not taking the breaks to which they are entitled, so they can easily send them out if/when they notice any non-compliance. 

 Discipline employees who fail to take compliant meal and rest periods. 

Your hourly employees may be disciplined for failing to take required breaks. Appropriate disciplinary action might include:  

• Coaching on time management and/or the requirement for hourly employees to take mandatory breaks.  
• A verbal warning. 
• A written warning. 
• Termination.  

Employers should be aware of any legal implications of disciplinary actions taken against employees. Discipline should be consistently applied to all employees by supervisors, HR and management, and hourly employees should be aware of the consequences of failing to take a mandatory break in advance of any disciplinary action. We strongly recommend submitting any disciplinary policies for legal review by a qualified attorney prior to implementation.  

You can read more here.  

Pay the penalty when compliant meal and rest breaks aren’t provided. 

If an employer does not provide an employee with a compliant meal or rest period, the employer must pay one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay. You can read more about the premium pay calculation for missed meal and rest break violations in California here. 

Employers must pay the penalty for every missed meal and rest period. Your pay formulas should be modified to calculate meal and rest break premiums at an employee’s regular rate of compensation, as required for overtime purposes.   

Require meal and rest period attestation on employee timecards. 

Hourly employee timecards should clearly show the hours they have worked and that the meal and rest periods were provided. The timecards should contain a statement with a signature line confirming that employees have correctly recorded all time worked and have been provided with the mandated breaks.  Employees should review and sign these timecards before they are submitted to payroll.   

Employers should regularly audit the timecards to ensure employees are being compensated for all hours worked including overtime and that the employer is paying meal period premiums if applicable. 

Implement a robust policy detailing meal and rest period obligations. 

Finally, you should have a robust policy that clearly details how, when, and why your hourly employees should take their breaks, as well as formal processes for lodging complaints about non-compliance. Employees should sign the policy, confirming that they have read it, and be given a copy to retain for their records.  

If you need assistance developing your workplace policies, get in touch. We’re here to help! 

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