Discussion 3 - Meal/Rest Breaks

Topic

Under California wage and hour law, non-exempt employees must receive a thirty (30) minute lunch or meal break if they work more than five (5) hours in a day. Employees are entitled to ten (10) minutes of rest period for each four (4) hours, or a substantial fraction thereof, that they work in a day.

Objectives

This discussion is designed to allow you to demonstrate the importance of understanding Meal & Rest Breaks as applied to work environments and how to address situations where improper breaks may be an issue.

Directions

Select one of the Scenarios below and decide, in your opinion, on the best answers to the questions before initiating a discussion post.

Scenario 1:

Nancy, a supervisor, and the employees she supervises have been working on a large project that is running behind.  John has reported to you (HR) that Nancy asked him to skip his rest break yesterday because they had to meet an important deadline.  John reports to you that Nancy has asked him to skip his break before, and it usually doesn't bother him, but this time he wanted to use the phone to call to check on his sick wife.

Discuss the various options for handling this situation.

1. What would you say to Nancy?
2. What would you say to John?
3. What ideas do you have for addressing this issue?

Scenario 2:

Mike has been working as a maintenance worker for the last three years.  He is usually scheduled to work from 9 AM to 5:30 PM with a half-hour lunch.  Upon reviewing his time record, you (HR) note that he has been clocking back from lunch early on several days which has resulted in overtime for which he did not receive advance authorization.  

You heard from his supervisor Karen that Mike sometimes shortens his lunch because he wants to leave early to pick up his son and Karen told Mike that was OK.  

You go back to look at his time records and notice on the days he takes less than a half-hour for lunch, he sometimes clocks out before 5:30, and on other days he clocks out after 5:30 PM.

You are going to meet with Mike and Karen separately.

1. What issues do you see in the above scenario?
2. What will you say to Mike?
3. What will you say to Karen?
4. What other ideas do you have for addressing these issues?

Initial Post Due: Friday, October 11, 2024

Your response may include describing a real-world situation related to the post, providing additional information, disagreeing respectfully by describing your own interpretation, proposing a new idea, or asking a probing question.

Response to 2 Classmates Due: Sunday, October 13, 2024

Your response to classmates may include supporting ideas or disagreeing respectfully by describing your own interpretation, proposing a new idea, or asking a probing question.

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