Wage & Hour Update-Rest Period Case Favorable to Employers!

The following case summary was taken from the Daily Briefs that I receive. This is ONE source that I keep up with to keep on top of current cases changes and changes in the law. I wanted you to get the whole picture. This case is favorable to employers regarding rest breaks.

Labor and Employment Law section:

While employers cannot impede, discourage, or dissuade employees from taking rest periods, they need only provide, not ensure, rest periods are taken. Employers need only authorize and permit rest periods every four hours or major fraction thereof and they need not, where impracticable, be in the middle of each work period. Requirement that all persons working more than five hours in a day be given a meal period does not obligate employer to grant a meal period for every five consecutive hours worked. While employers cannot impede, discourage, or dissuade employees from taking meal periods, they need only provide them and not ensure they are taken. While employers cannot coerce, require, or compel employees to work off the clock, they can only be held liable for employees working off the clock if they knew or should have known they were doing so. Certification of employee class was error with respect to subclasses claiming denial of rest periods or meal periods, or overtime compensation for work off the clock; since each employee would have to show that denial of rest or meal period was result of unlawful action of employer and not employee choice, and each employee claiming to have worked off the clock would have to show that employer knew or should have known of the off-the-clock work, individual issues necessarily predominated over classwide ones with respect to those subclasses.
     Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) – filed July 22, 2008, Fourth District, Div. One   Cite as 2008 SOS 4356

In closing, I want to add that we need to stay proactive with these break issues. Make sure that your employees know that they are permitted to take their proper breaks and lunch period. This was a good decision so let’s make sure we, as employers. don’t give the courts any second thoughts.