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Missed meal break penalty
Missed meal break penalty

Stay compliant with California legislation in relation to missed breaks

Kevin avatar
Written by Kevin
Updated over a week ago

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

  1. Premium Plan subscription or higher

  2. Administrator access

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.

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