The California labor employment law protects the rights of California employees including many new laws since 2014 that also protect new immigrants. In addition to protecting meal and rest breaks, the California labor code covers issues such as overtime pay, tip pooling laws, vacation laws and more.
Recently in Los Angeles, a former employee of Guess Retail Inc. filed a California labor lawsuit over missed meal breaks, lack of payment for the alleged missed meal breaks, as well as improper payment of wages upon termination. The lawsuit, Burgos v. Guess Retail Inc., is proposed as a class action suit, and it is the third lawsuit against Guess already in 2015.
According to the available court documents, the plaintiff Kriss Burgos was a non-exempt hourly employee at a Guess facility in California. She has alleged that she was required to work without being allowed rest periods or a meal break, and was never compensated for those missed breaks.
The California labor law requires employers to provide regular rest breaks and an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period to be taken while off-duty, after the fifth hour of duty.
So what, exactly, does that entail?
Here is a brief overview of the California Labor Code:
Meal Breaks
Rest Breaks
California has a very large agricultural workforce and special provisions in the California labor laws regarding agricultural and outdoor workers are important to be aware of, as well.
Individuals employed in agriculture and outdoor work such as landscaping and farming are now legally entitled to sufficient rest breaks when temperatures exceed 85 degrees. This is defined as a minimum five minutes in the shade, on an “as needed” basis. This new law applies to all employees, including illegal immigrants, who now have a number of rights and protections provided by the state of California under the provisions of Bill 263.
If an employee does not receive the proper meal and rest periods the employer must pay to the employee one hour of pay as a penalty. This includes the newly defined “recovery periods” or “cool down period afforded an employee to prevent heat illness.” In addition to the recovery periods, California employers should review the California OSHA recommendations for preventing heat illness.
Here is an overview of those fines:
Missed Meal Break
Missed Rest Break
Missed Meal and Rest Breaks
In United Parcel Service v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, a California Court of Appeal ruled that there are two separate remedies because the premium wage requirement is contained in two separate sections of the Wage Orders.
If your organization would like to learn more about its obligations, or acquire resources to deal with these types of situations, Accuchex recently partnered with HR Solutions Partners to offer its customers the most up-to-date and professional human resources management solutions available.
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