When is a meal period required in California?

A 30-minute unpaid meal period is required once a shift exceeds 5 hours, and a second 30-minute meal is required once it exceeds 10 hours. The first meal can be waived by mutual consent only on shifts of 6 hours or less; the second only on shifts of 12 hours or less when the first was not waived.

How are rest breaks counted?

Employees get a paid 10-minute rest per 4 hours worked or major fraction thereof. The DLSE rule means roughly one rest for shifts of 3.5 to 6 hours, two for over 6 up to 10 hours, three for over 10 up to 14 hours, and so on. Shifts under 3.5 hours require no rest break.

How much is the premium for a missed break?

Under Labor Code § 226.7 the employer owes one additional hour of pay at the regular rate for each workday a required meal period is not provided, and a separate one hour for rest-period violations. The two premiums are capped at one hour each per day regardless of how many breaks were missed.

Can multiple missed breaks stack in one day?

No. The premium is capped at one hour for meal violations and one hour for rest violations per workday. So the maximum premium for break violations in a single day is two hours of pay, even if several meals and rests were missed.

Does this replace legal advice?

No. This calculator estimates premium exposure from the standard meal and rest rules, but exemptions, collective bargaining agreements, on-duty meal agreements, and industry wage orders can change the result. Consult an employment attorney or the California DLSE for a binding determination.

California Meal & Rest Break Compliance Calculator

California has some of the strictest meal and rest break rules in the United States, and violations are expensive: each missed-break category triggers an extra hour of pay per day under Labor Code § 226.7. This tool applies the statutory thresholds to a shift, tells you how many meals and rests were legally required, and calculates the premium owed when fewer were provided.

How it works

The required number of breaks depends only on shift length:

meals required:  >5h → 1,  >10h → 2
rests required:  <3.5h → 0
                 one 10-min rest per 4h "or major fraction" (>2h into a block)
                 e.g. 3.5–6h → 1, >6–10h → 2, >10–14h → 3

For premium pay, each category is independent and capped at one hour per day:

meal premium = (mealsProvided < mealsRequired) ? 1 hour : 0
rest premium = (restsProvided < restsRequired) ? 1 hour : 0
premium pay  = (mealPremium + restPremium) × regularRate

Example and notes

A 9-hour shift requires one meal period (because 9 > 5 but not > 10) and two rest periods. If the employee was given zero compliant meals, the employer owes one hour of premium pay; at a $20 rate that is $20 for the day. Add a separate $20 if the rest breaks were also non-compliant.

Notes: the premiums are penalties paid at the regular rate, not the overtime rate, and they are separate from any overtime owed. On-duty meal agreements, healthcare-industry waivers, and specific IWC wage orders can alter these defaults, so treat the output as an estimate rather than legal advice.