What if my Job Requires me to Work Through my Lunch Break?
It seems lately that my Orange County Employment Law Firm has had several calls about lunch break issues. Specifically, these California employees are being required to work through their lunch break due to the "nature of the job". This issue has come up several times recently as it relates to security officers. These employees are being told they cannot leave their post and as a result, cannot take a proper meal break.
As I discussed in a previous post about Labor Code Section 226.7 and lunch breaks, the law provides that an employee must get at least a 30 minute lunch break whenever they work for more than five hours in one workday. However, an employer may ask that an employee waive their right to a lunch break. This waiver must be in writing, and employees must be free to not sign the waiver. Similarly, if they do agree to sign it, they must be free to revoke the waiver at any time.
If you have not signed a waiver of your lunch break, your employer cannot require you to work through your lunch break. Such is often the case for security officers, who are told they cannot leave their post for lunch. If no relief security officer is provided, the security officer is still entitled to a lunch break (and by break, it needs to be duty free, not scarfing down a sandwich while sitting at your post working). If that lunch break is denied to you, you may be entitled to monetary penalties as result.
