Employees who have to work through their half-hour lunch period or 10-minute rest breaks are entitled to an extra hour’s pay at their "regular rate of compensation" in California, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle.
What that rate amounts to wasn’t clear until Thursday, when the state Supreme Court ruled in the employees’ favor.
The case involved a former hotel bartender, Jessica Ferra, whose pay consisted of an hourly wage and a guaranteed additional "incentive" sum each quarter. For the days when she had to work during lunch or a rest break, her employer, Loews Hollywood Hotel, paid Ferra only the hourly wage and did not include a percentage of the quarterly incentive.
A Los Angeles judge and a state appeals court ruled in the hotel’s favor, saying an employee’s regular rate of compensation consists solely of hourly wages. On Thursday, the state’s high court unanimously disagreed.
The meal and rest break law is similar to another California law entitling workers to one and a half hour’s pay for every overtime hour they work beyond eight in a day, Justice Goodwin Liu said in the 7-0 ruling. That law says the extra compensation is based on an employee’s "regular rate of pay," which courts have defined as all pay the employee customarily receives, including hourly wages, bonuses and other incentives.
Past court rulings, Liu said, have established a policy of interpreting labor laws "liberally...to favor the protection of employees."
California law entitles most workers to a 30-minute meal break after five hours, and to 10-minute rest breaks every four hours.
A lawyer for the hotel declined to comment on the ruling. An attorney for employer groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was not available for comment.
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