Breaks, overtime, and off-clock work check

A covered employee who works more than five hours generally must get a 30-minute meal by the end of the fifth hour. A second meal is generally due by the end of the tenth hour when the day runs past 10 hours.

The waiver rules are narrower. The first meal may generally be waived by mutual consent only when the whole workday is no more than six hours. The second may generally be waived only when the day is no more than 12 hours and the first meal was not waived.

An on-duty meal is not the same as a waiver. Under the general rule, the work itself must prevent relief from all duty. A written agreement must also permit the on-duty meal, and the meal counts as paid time.

The job facts and the wage order still control. Health-care rules, revocation terms, and other special rules can change whether the agreement works.

A covered nonexempt worker generally gets a net 10-minute rest period for each four hours or major fraction. No rest period is required when the total workday is under three and one-half hours.

That is not the meal rule. Some wage orders, care settings, union terms, and industry rules use a different rest path.

When a required meal is not provided, a covered worker is generally due one added hour at the regular rate for that workday.

The rest rule also generally adds one hour at the regular rate for the workday when required rest was not authorized and permitted. It is not one hour for each missed rest period. Coverage, a valid waiver or exception, real relief from duty, and the wage order can change the outcome.

The general overtime rule looks at the workday, the workweek, and a seventh straight day in that workweek. A nonexempt worker generally gets time and one-half after eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Double time generally starts after 12 hours in a day. The first eight hours on that seventh day are generally paid at time and one-half. Work after eight hours that day is generally paid at double time.

The regular rate may include more than the stated hourly wage. Salary, piece rates, commissions, and other pay may be part of the calculation. This is why the pay stub rate alone may not settle the overtime amount.

Under the general rule, work time includes time an employer allows or requires a worker to work, even when the task was not approved ahead of time. Setup, closing, cleanup, calls, or app tasks can count when the employer knew or should have known the work was happening.

The facts still matter. Write down the task, the minutes, who asked for it, who saw it, and how often it happened. A timecard showing zero does not settle whether work happened.