Employee Breaks

There are basically two kinds of employee work breaks in California: rest breaks and meal breaks.

Rest Breaks: These are paid breaks of ten minutes duration which are provided for every four hours of work. They should be scheduled at the mid-point of the four hours. Employees should be relieved of work duties. Since they are paid breaks, hourly paid employees do not clock out.

Meal Breaks: These are unpaid breaks of thirty minutes duration which are provided for every six hours of work. These should be scheduled at approximately the mid-point of the six hours. Employees are relieved of all work duties. With unpaid breaks, hourly paid employees do clock out and back in.

Meal breaks are not scheduled the last thirty minutes of the work shift because then they are not breaks because the shift is over. And believe me, employees will try to do this.

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