Employer Alert: Brinker Decision

If you have hourly employees and are a California employer, take note of today's California Supreme Court decision.  Today the court announced it's decision on an employer's obligation to provide hourly employees a meal break.  Please visit Cook Brown's website for a full explanation of this issue.  Here is a brief excerpt from their announcement:

On Thursday, April 12, 2012, the California Supreme Court issued its long awaited decision on key issues confronting California’s employers – the extent of the obligation to provide nonexempt employees a duty free meal period, when such meal periods are required, and when rest periods must be allowed.

In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, the Court held that an employer’s duty under Labor Code Section 512 is to “provide” a duty-free meal break every five hours. This obligation is satisfied if the employer relieves employees of all duty, relinquishes control over their activities and permits them a reasonable opportunity to take an uninterrupted 30 minute break. This means that although employers cannot impede or discourage employees from taking meal period breaks, employers are not required to compel employees to take them.

Not all employers are subject to Labor Code 512, which expressly excludes employees in specified industries and those subject to certain collective bargaining agreements. However, the holding is a critical one for the majority of California’s employers because of the prior uncertainty regarding the extent of the meal period obligation. The open questions which have increased litigation in the past several years – with each side gambling on an interpretation in its favor – are now resolved.


This is an important decision that clears up any previous ambiguity about an employer's responsibility in providing breaks for their employees.