Employee Rest Time Rights

• California's Industrial Welfare Commission requires employers to provide a paid, 10-minute break whenever an employee works at least four hours total during the workday. The rules specify that the break should occur in the middle of the four-hour period if practicable. If an employee works a large portion of the four hours -- at least two hours -- they are also entitled to a break. Employees engaged in particularly strenuous activities -- including swimmers, ice-skaters and dancers -- may work fewer hours between rest times. Employers must provide a break room or rest area -- other than bathroom facilities -- for employees to take their breaks.
  
  

Employer Break Time Options

• Employers do not have to provide a paid break if the employee's entire workday is shorter than 3-1/2 hours. Since breaks are paid time, employers can require employees to remain on the premises during rest times. Employers also have the right to schedule break times so that adequate numbers of employees will always be available for industries such as drilling and mining where work stoppages may not be possible.
  
  

Industrial Welfare Commission's Wage Orders

• California Labor Code Section 1173 authorizes California's Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) to issue rules regarding employee working conditions, including rest periods. The IWC has issued 17 "Work Orders" that provide workplace rules for 17 different categories of employees, ranging from motion picture entertainers to transportation industry workers. The rules specify the length of time employees can work before receiving a paid break. Some Work Orders specify special rest period rules. Order number 16, for workers in the construction, drilling, logging and mining industries, specifies that employers can make the employee's immediate work area the designated rest area. Work Order number 5 covers workers in the public housekeeping industry -- hospital, nursing home or institutional facilities. These employees may have to work more than four hours before receiving a break if they are needed for the supervision of elderly, blind or disabled patients or minor children. Employers must make up the missed breaks for these employees.
  
  

Penalties for Denying Breaks

• An employee who does not receive a 10-minute rest period, as required by a Work Order of the IWC, is entitled to one-hour's pay for any workday in which the employee did not receive her break. Based on a California Court Case -- Murphy v. Kenneth Cole -- employees have up to three years to file a claim for additional compensation based on denial of rest periods. If the employer persists in denying required breaks or refuses to pay the hour's pay as compensation for missed breaks, the employee can file a wage claim with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.