California Meal/Break Requirements

The TimeForce II system can be set up to comply with the state of California's laws and regulations regarding employee meals and breaks.

Meal Requirements (Mandatory Meals)

1. A meal period of no less than 30 minutes is required for an employee who works more than 5 hours per day. If the total hours worked is no more than 6 hours, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and employee.
2. A second meal period of no less than 30 minutes is required if an employee works more than 10 hours per day. If the total hours worked for the day is no more than 12 hours, the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of employer and employee.
3. For each day that an employer fails to provide an employee with a required meal period, the employee is entitled to one extra hour of pay (meal penalty). If two or more meal periods are in violation, the employee is still only paid one meal penalty hour on the day of the violations. Meal Penalty hours do not count toward overtime.

Mandatory Meals are set up using “Floating Meal Window Policies.”

Break Requirements (Mandatory Breaks)

1. A break period of no less than 10 minutes is required for every four hours worked per-day. If the total hours worked is no more than 3.5 (three and one-half), a break period is not required. The number of required break periods is dependent on the number of hours worked for the day.

• 0 – 3.5999 worked hours = 0 break period
• 3.6 – 5.9999 worked hours = 1 break period
• 6 – 9.9999 worked hours = 2 break periods
• 10 – 13.9999 worked hours = 3 break periods
• 14 – 17.9999 worked hours = 4 break periods

• 18 – 21.9999 worked hours = 5 break periods

2. Insofar as practical, a break must be taken in the middle of each 4 hour work period.
3. For each day that an employer fails to provide an employee with a required break period, the employee is entitled to one extra hour of pay (break penalty). If the employer fails to provide more than one break period, the employee is entitled to only one break penalty hour, not one hour for each violation. Break penalty hours do not count toward overtime.

Mandatory Breaks are set up using “Floating Break Window Policies.”

Related Topics

• Refer to Floating Meal Policies for instructions on setting up Mandatory Meals.
• Refer to Floating Break Policies for instructions on setting up Mandatory Breaks.