California law generally provides that no employer shall employ any non-exempt employee for a work period of more than 5 hours without a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except that if the total hours worked does not exceed 6, the employee and employer may mutually agree to waive the meal period. Further, an employer may not employ an employee for a work period of more than 10 hours per day without providing the employee with a second meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except that if the total hours worked does not exceed 12, the employee and employer may mutually agree to waive the second meal period so long as the first meal period was not waived. Furthermore, unless the employee is relieved of all duty during a 30 minute meal period, the meal period shall be considered an “on duty” meal period and counted as time worked.
If an employer fails to provide an employee with a required meal period, the employer is required to pay the employee 1 hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation for each workday that the meal period is not provided.