Meal Break Violations Attorney

Under California Labor Code § 512, employers must provide a 30-minute uninterrupted meal period no later than the end of the fifth hour of work. A second meal period is required for shifts over 10 hours. The meal break must be duty-free — the employer must relieve the employee of all duties. Employers cannot impede, discourage, or coerce employees into skipping meal breaks.

New York Labor Law § 162 requires a 30-minute meal break for shifts over 6 hours that extend over the noonday period (11 AM–2 PM). Factory workers receive a 60-minute break. Additional breaks are required for shifts starting before 11 AM and extending past 7 PM. Unlike California, NY allows on-duty meal periods for certain solo workers if they are paid during the break.

For each workday a meal break is not provided, the employer must pay one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate (Lab. Code § 226.7). This premium pay is in addition to any wages earned. The statute of limitations is 3 years, so employees can recover up to 3 years of meal break premiums. In a class action, penalties can be enormous.

In California, you can waive your first meal break if your shift is 6 hours or less, by mutual consent. You can waive the second meal break if your shift is no more than 12 hours and you took the first meal break. The waiver must be voluntary — an employer cannot pressure you to waive. In New York, meal breaks generally cannot be waived unless the employee falls into a narrow exception.