Introduction
In California, 'non exempt' employees are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid meal break for each five hour period worked during their shift.
When an employer fails to provide an employee with their meal break, the employee is entitled to one extra hour of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate
The missed meal break penalty automatically identifies when a meal break has been missed and applies the extra one hour of pay to the relevant timecard.
Note - By default the break allocation tables have been configured to allocate breaks as prescribed by Californian legislation.
Prerequisite
Premium Plan subscription or higher
Administrator access
Navigation
Main Menu > Compliance > Breaks > Missed Meal Breaks
Break penalty calculations
A break penalty is applied when the following scenarios occur:
Worker works over 5 hours but under 6 hours;
Meal break can be waived (using clock out disclaimers)
If a meal break is taken, ensure the break is started before the 5th hour finishes
Worker works over 6 but under 10 hours;
Meal break must be taken
Ensure the taken break is started before the 5th hour finishes
Worker works over 10 hours but under 12 hours;
Only one meal break can be waived (using clock out disclaimers)
If a single meal break is taken, ensure it is started before the 10th hour finishes
If both meal breaks are taken, ensure they are started before the 5th and 10th hours finish
Worker works over 12 hours but under 15 hours;
Ensure 2 meal breaks are taken
Ensure first and second meal breaks are started before the 5th hour and 10th hours finish
Worker works over 15 hours but under 20 hours;
Ensure 3 meal breaks are taken
Ensure first and second meal breaks are started before the 5th hour and 10th hours finish
Worker works over 20 hours;
Ensure 4 meal breaks are taken
Ensure first and second meal breaks are started before the 5th hour and 10th hours finish
Note - The missed meal break penalty is only be applied once per workday
E.g. worker works a 14 hour shift and does not take either of the two mandatory 30 min meal breaks; only one penalty is applied.
Allowing for break waivers
The break penalty is not applied in the following scenarios:
Break was not taken, however, shift duration fell within the period of time that the break was able to be waived
Break was taken, however, the full 30 minutes of the break was not taken.
In both these scenarios the break penalty is not applied because it is assumed that the break, or remaining portion of the break, was waived by the worker. Learn more about managing break waivers using SocialSchedules clock out disclaimers.