BILL NUMBER: SB 1192	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Margett

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2008

   An act to amend Sections 226.7 and 512 of the Labor Code, relating
to employment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1192, as introduced, Margett. Employment: meal and rest
periods.
   Under existing law an employer is prohibited from requiring an
employee to work during a meal or rest period mandated by an
applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission and is required
to pay a nonexempt employee one additional hour's pay at the
employee's regular rate of compensation upon failure to provide the
mandated meal or rest period.
   This bill would provide that the payment to the employee for
failure to provide a mandated meal or rest period is a statutory
penalty and does not constitute additional wages to the employee. The
bill also would clarify that an employer provides a meal or rest
period by making one available to the employee without interfering
with its use.
   Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee who works
more than 5 hours with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes,
unless the employee's total daily work period does not exceed 6
hours, in which case it may be waived by mutual agreement.
   This bill would provide that this meal period may commence at any
time before the start of the 6th hour of work.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 226.7 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   226.7.  (a) No employer shall require any employee to work during
any meal or rest period mandated by an applicable order of the
Industrial Welfare Commission.
   (b) If an employer fails to provide an employee a meal period or
rest period in accordance with an applicable order of the Industrial
Welfare Commission, the employer shall pay  a penalty to 
the employee  in an amount equal to  one  additional
 hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation
 , notwithstanding the duration of the meal or rest period,
 for each work day that the meal or rest period is not provided.
 This statutory penalty is not restitutionary in nature and does
not constitute additional wages to the employee.  
   (c) For purposes of this section, an employer provides a meal or
rest period by making one available to the employee without
interfering with its use. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 512 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   512.  (a) An employer may not employ an employee for a work period
of more than five hours per day without providing the employee with
a meal period of not less than 30 minutes,  commencing at any
time before the start of the sixth hour of work,  except that if
the total work period per day of the employee is no more than six
hours, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of both the
employer and employee. 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 is no more than 12 hours, the
second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer
and the employee only if the first meal period was not waived.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Industrial Welfare
Commission may adopt a working condition order permitting a meal
period to commence after six hours of work if the commission
determines that the order is consistent with the health and welfare
of the affected employees.
   (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to an employee in the wholesale
baking industry who is subject to an Industrial Welfare Commission
wage order and who is covered by a valid collective bargaining
agreement that provides for a 35-hour workweek consisting of five
seven-hour days, payment of  1 and   1/2
  one and one-half times  the regular rate of pay
for time worked in excess of seven hours per day, and a rest period
of not less than 10 minutes every two hours.
   (d) If an employee in the motion picture industry or the
broadcasting industry, as those industries are defined in Industrial
Welfare Commission Wage Orders 11 and 12, is covered by a valid
collective bargaining agreement that provides for meal periods and
includes a monetary remedy if the employee does not receive a meal
period required by the agreement, then the terms, conditions, and
remedies of the agreement pertaining to meal periods apply in lieu of
the applicable provisions pertaining to meal periods of subdivision
(a) of this section, Section 226.7, and Industrial Welfare Commission
Wage Orders 11 and 12.