BRINKER DECISION ABOUT EMPLOYEE MEAL AND REST BREAKS IS A BIG WIN FOR EMPLOYERS
07/25/08 - Article to: CALPASC Members

09.03.08 – To: CALPASC Active Members

There have been two judicial decisions that are of great importance too CALPASC members the Crawford v. Weather Shield opinion from the California Supreme Court, about which we wrote to you earlier this week; and the one described below relating to providing (not ensuring) employee meal/rest breaks.

On July 22, 2008, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District handed California employers a big win in the continuing battle over the extent of a California employer's obligation to provide meal and rest periods.  The court issued a decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp._v._Super._Ct., 165 Cal.App.4th 25 (2008) that addressed an issue of significant importance for California employers. In its published decision, the appellate court held that:

(1) While employers cannot impede, discourage or dissuade employees from taking rest periods, they need only provide, not ensure, rest periods are taken;

(2) 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;

(3) Employers are not required to provide a meal period for every five consecutive hours worked;

(4) While employers cannot impede, discourage or dissuade employees from taking meal periods, they need only provide them and not ensure they are taken;

(5) 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.

The appellate court concluded that because an employer is only required to "make available" the rest and meal breaks and it need not "ensure" that they are taken, individual issues predominate and, based upon the evidence presented to the trial court, they are not amenable to class treatment.

The Brinker decision represents the first published California appellate court decision to rule in favor of employers on this highly controversial and litigated topic.  The Brinker decision follows two recent California federal court decisions, Brown v. Federal Express Corp. (C.D. Cal. 2008) F.R.D. and White v. Starbucks Corp., (N.D. Cal. 2007) 497 F.Supp.2d 1080, that also held an employer need not ensure that its employees take their meal and rest breaks.

< Back to Alerts & Publications

About Van De Poel, Levy & Allen, LLP
Van De Poel, Levy & Allen, LLP, is an experienced, AV-rated civil litigation and business counseling law firm providing clients with cutting-edge expertise in a variety of legal specialties. With over 100 years of combined experience, our work demonstrates a philosophy of conscientious, results-oriented service and a focus on putting our extensive local knowledge to work for the benefit of clients. Our headquarters are located in Walnut Creek, CA. We can be reached at (925) 934-6102 or .