In March 2021, the California Dental Association (CDA) shared a California Supreme Court ruling that will require employers to adhere to more stringent practices regarding the time allotted to employees for meals. In short, the ruling requires employers to comply with existing meal break legislation, to advise employees not to work through meal breaks, and to refrain from consistently paying meal break premiums. Similarly, employers are responsible for ensuring that employees are relieved of their responsibilities ahead of meal breaks and have a reasonable opportunity to complete their breaks uninterrupted.
The ruling comes on the heels of Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC, in which the plaintiff accused her employer of regularly failing to provide at least a 30-minute unpaid meal break in the first five hours of work. Instead, AMN Services followed a practice of rounding up time card punches to the nearest 10-minute increment, which meant that some breaks as short as 22 minutes were rounded up to 30 minutes.
By law, employees are entitled to the full 30 minutes and must be compensated for shortened meal breaks. The defendant was found to have failed the employee in both regards.
A trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, AMN Services, which was affirmed by a court of appeals. However, the California Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case and decided on two additional questions of employment law related to meal periods.
Reviewing the findings of the case and the court rulings, the CDA has stressed the importance of compliant meal break policies among dental practice owners, along with effective timekeeping practices. Littler Mendelson, a law firm that specializes in employment and labor law, advises practices to ensure that employees know where and when they can take uninterrupted meal breaks, with the first break coming before the fifth hour of work is completed and a second break before the completion of the 10th hour of work. “Rounding up” should never be used, and meal period premiums, valued at one hour of regular pay, should be paid whenever necessary.
In addition to sharing insight from Littler, the CDA has referred members to its Sample Meal and Rest Break Policy. Members can download the fully compliant sample policy, which includes a meal break waiver, at www.cda.org. CDA members can find a number of similar sample documents online, such as questions for prospective employee interviews and text for advertising a job opening.
Complying with the state’s meal break policies benefits companies as well as employees. A 2018 survey by Tork indicated that 90 percent of workers feel refreshed and more productive after a lunch break. Additionally, 81 percent of employees who take daily lunch breaks feel more valued by their employer and develop a stronger desire to play a driving role in their company’s long-term success.
Unfortunately, the same study found that 38 percent of North American employees do not feel supported in taking a full lunch break, while nearly one in four bosses said they view employees who take lunch breaks as less hardworking.
The CDA has sided with the California Supreme Court in the importance of regular meal breaks.
Amisha Patel DMD - Wordpress Blog 