If you’re a non-exempt employee, you’re entitled to an uninterrupted 10-minute rest break for every 3 ½ hours of work.  In other words, you should receive a 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours of work.  Note that you can’t combine your meal and rest break to create a single longer break nor can you enter into an agreement to waive your rest break.

Here’s a quick chart to give you a general idea of when you’re entitled to a rest break:

Work Hours	Rest Breaks
0 – 3.5	0
3.5 – 6	1
6 – 10	2

So for example, you’re entitled to a total of 2 paid rest breaks if you work 7 hours in a day — your rest breaks should be taken before and after your meal period.

Keep in mind that your 10-minute rest break is paid — your rest break is considered as time worked.

Further, you must be relieved of all duties during your rest break, which means your employer can’t ask you to perform any work (i.e. your boss asks you to make a quick phone call) during your break.   There is a recent California Supreme Court case, Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., that held that employers must relinquish all control over their employee’s rest periods — for example, security guards can’t be forced to carry cell phones or radios and remain “on-call” during their rest breaks.

If your rest break is not provided or interrupted, then you’re owed one hour of pay that is due by the following pay period.

For further questions or if you’re being denied rest breaks, please feel free to contact our office.