Last week, in
Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC, the California Supreme Court handed down a very important, if unsurprising, decision regarding wage and hour class actions. There are three critically important takeaways for employers:
An employer
cannot round employee meal period punches only exact time will work, as any non-compliance (even as minor as one minute) will trigger liability to pay a meal period premium.
Rounding the start time of an employee’s shift is also functionally prohibited because of the potential that it will result in an employee starting his or her meal period after the end of the fifth hour, resulting in a violation of section 512 of the Labor Code and the applicable IWC Wage Orders.