Opinion ID: 844210
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Meal period timing

Text: (33) We turn to the question of timing. To determine whether the IWC or the Legislature intended to regulate meal period timing, we consider the language and history of both Labor Code section 512 and Wage Order No. 5. We conclude that, absent waiver, section 512 requires a first meal period no later than the end of an employee's fifth hour of work, and a second meal period no later than the end of an employee's 10th hour of work. We conclude further that, contrary to Hohnbaum's argument, Wage Order No. 5 does not impose additional timing requirements. We begin with the text of section 512, subdivision (a). On the subject of first meal periods, it provides: 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, 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. This provision could be interpreted as requiring employers either to provide a meal break after no more than five hours of work in a day, absent waiver, or simply to provide a meal break at any point in scheduled shifts that exceed five hours. (34) The first interpretation is the correct one: the statute requires a first meal period no later than the start of an employee's sixth hour of work. Section 512, subdivision (b) resolves the ambiguity. It provides: 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. The provision employs the language of timing: the IWC may adopt a rule permitting a meal period to commence after six hours, i.e., as late as six hours into a shift. ( Ibid., italics added.) By beginning with Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the provision further indicates that any such timing rule would otherwise contravene subdivision (a). Only if subdivision (a) was intended to ensure that a first meal period would commence sooner than six hours, after no more than five hours of work, would this be true. (See Assem. Republican Caucus, analysis of Sen. Bill No. 88 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.) as amended Aug. 10, 2000, p. 1 [prior to the addition of § 512, subd. (b), noting that [e]xisting law requires that the meal period begin no later than 5 hours after work begins].) Accordingly, first meal periods must start after no more than five hours. [20] We turn to the matter of second meal periods. Section 512, subdivision (a) provides in its second sentence: 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. As with the first sentence of subdivision (a), this language is susceptible of two readings: it could be interpreted as requiring employers to provide a second meal break after no more than 10 hours of work in a day, absent waiver, or as simply requiring employers to provide at least two separate breaks at any point in scheduled shifts that exceed 10 hours. Significantly, however, the language is parallel to subdivision (a)'s first sentence. Hence, if the first sentence was intended to ensure a first meal period no more than five hours into a shift, as subdivision (b) reveals it was, it follows that the second, parallel, sentence should be read to require a second meal period after no more than 10 hours of work in a day, i.e., no later than what would be the start of the 11th hour of work, absent waiver. (35) Hohnbaum contends section 512 should be read as requiring as well a second meal period no later than five hours after the end of a first meal period if a shift is to continue. The text does not permit such a reading. It requires a second meal after no more than 10 hours of work; it does not add the caveat or less, if the first meal period occurs earlier than the end of five hours of work. Because the statutory text is conclusive, we need not consider extrinsic sources on this point. ( Beal Bank, SSB v. Arter & Hadden, LLP (2007) 42 Cal.4th 503, 507-508 [66 Cal.Rptr.3d 52, 167 P.3d 666].) The further issue is whether Wage Order No. 5 imposes any additional requirement. We agree with Brinker that it does not. (36) The IWC has long been understood to have the power to adopt requirements beyond those codified in statute. ( Industrial Welfare Com. v. Superior Court, supra, 27 Cal.3d at p. 733; Cal. Drive-in Restaurant Assn. v. Clark, supra, 22 Cal.2d at pp. 292-294; see also ante, at p. 1027.) Section 516 creates an exception; it bars the use of this power to diminish section 512's protections:  Except as provided in Section 512, the Industrial Welfare Commission may adopt or amend working condition orders with respect to break periods, meal periods, and days of rest for any workers in California consistent with the health and welfare of those workers. (Italics added). While the Legislature in section 516 generally preserved the IWC's authority to regulate break periods, it intended to prohibit the IWC from amending its wage orders in ways that conflict[] with [the] 30-minute meal period requirements in section 512. (Legis. Counsel's Dig., Sen. Bill No. 88 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.) 6 Stats. 2000, Summary Dig., p. 212; see Bearden v. U.S. Borax, Inc. (2006) 138 Cal.App.4th 429, 438 [41 Cal.Rptr.3d 482].) In the absence of a conflict, however, the IWC may still augment the statutory framework with additional protections on matters not covered by section 512; that is, the Legislature did not intend to occupy the field of meal period regulation. (See, e.g., Sen. 3d reading analysis of Sen. Bill No. 88 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.) as amended Aug. 10, 2000, p. 5 [authorizing the IWC to regulate so long as the orders it adopts are consistent with § 512]; § 226.7 [imposing premium wages for violations of the IWC's meal period provisions, rather than § 512].) The text of Wage Order No. 5 is ambiguous. Subdivision 11(A) provides in relevant part: No employer shall employ any person for a work period of more than five (5) hours without a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except that when a work period of not more than six (6) hours will complete the day's work the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and employee. This language may be read to mirror our interpretation of section 512: employees are due a first meal period after no more than five hours of work, a second meal period after no more than 10 hours, and so on. Alternatively, it may be read more restrictively, as allowing an employer to schedule no more than five hours of work between a first meal period and either another meal period or the end of the shift. Thus, for example, an employee given a meal period after three hours of work would become entitled after eight hours of work either to end the shift or to take a second meal period, even though 10 hours of work were not yet complete. [21] In the face of this textual ambiguity, we consider the relevant adoption history. (See Manriquez v. Gourley (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 1227, 1235 [130 Cal.Rptr.2d 209].) Evidence in the historical record suggests the IWC's meal period language originally was intended to limit employees to five-hour work intervals without a meal. In 1943, the first version of the current language appeared: No employer shall employ any woman or minor for a work period of more than five (5) hours without an allowance of not less than thirty (30) minutes for a meal. (IWC wage order No. 5 NS, subd. 3(d) (June 28, 1943).) The provision's intended function was to ensure workers were not required to go too long without a meal break; the IWC found that it is necessary to insure a meal period after not more than 5 hours of work in order to protect the health of women and minors. (IWC meeting mins. (Feb. 5, 1943) p. 19; accord, IWC meeting mins. (Apr. 14, 1943) p. 6.) [22] At the time, this provision was understood to apply to the work intervals that conclude shifts, as well as those that begin shifts. In response to a request from a regulated store that, for shifts running from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., employees be permitted to lunch between 11:00 a.m. and noon, i.e., with six hours between the end of the meal period and the shift end, the IWC adopted an exception to the five-hour limit, allowing work periods of up to six hours at the end of shifts. (IWC wage order No. 5 NS, subd. 3(d) (June 28, 1943) [However, if the employee's work for the day will be completed within six (6) hours, such meal period need not be given.]; IWC meeting mins. (Jan. 29, 1943) p. 15; IWC meeting mins. (Feb. 5, 1943) p. 19.) In 1947, the IWC briefly departed from its original formulation, rewriting the timing requirement to apply only to the beginning of each work shift. (IWC wage order No. 5 R, subd. 10 (June 1, 1947) [No employee shall be required to work more than five (5) consecutive hours after reporting for work, without a meal period of not less than (30) minutes.].) In 1952, however, it returned to its previous approach, adopting language that has been carried forward to today without significant change. [23] (IWC wage order No. 5-52, subd. 11 (Aug. 1, 1952) [No employer shall employ any woman or minor for a work period of more than five (5) hours without a meal period of not less than thirty (30) minutes; except that when a work period of not more than six (6) hours will complete the day's work, the meal period may be waived.].) The IWC explained this revision was intended to expand the right to meal periods from a single break in the first five hours to one at least every five hours through the day: `The meal period provision was amended to permit a 6-hour work period without a meal when such a work shift would complete the day's work, [with] the additional provision that a meal period shall be every 5 hours rather than providing only one meal period within the first 5 hours.' (IWC meeting mins. (May 16, 1952) p. 33 [adopting summary of findings], italics added.) The IWC's descriptions of its meal period requirement in the ensuing years similarly reflected an understanding that work periods before and after meals were to be limited to five hours absent waiver. For example, the commission, discussing IWC wage order No. 12-63 (Aug. 30, 1963) (identically worded to Wage Order No. 5 save for a longer permissible period between meals), explained that the meal provision requires the employer to provide meal periods at intervals of no more than five and one-half hours within the work period. (Wage Board for IWC Wage Order No. 12Motion Picture Industry, Rep. & Recommendations (Oct. 21, 1966) p. 6; see also Margaret T. Miller, IWC executive officer, letter to Klaus Wehrenberg (July 13, 1982) p. 2 [under the IWC's wage orders, meal periods must be provided `at such intervals as will result in no employee working longer than five consecutive hours without an eating period'].) In 1999, however, the Legislature passed Assembly Bill No. 60 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.), which among other things repudiated the IWC's actions in adopting a series of wage orders that had eliminated daily overtime. ( Harris v. Superior Court (2011) 53 Cal.4th 170, 177 [135 Cal.Rptr.3d 247, 266 P.3d 953]; ante, at p. 1037.) Assembly Bill No. 60 repealed five wage orders, including IWC wage order No. 5-98 (Jan. 1, 1998), and required the IWC to review its wage orders and readopt orders conforming to the Legislature's expressed intentions. (§ 517; Stats. 1999, ch. 134, § 21, p. 1829.) It also enacted section 512, which for the first time set out statutory meal period requirements. The IWC complied with the directive to adopt new wage orders. Pending completion of plenary review, it issued an interim wage order applicable to all industries, including those previously and subsequently covered by Wage Order No. 5. Notably, the interim order mirrored section 512's language, spelling out that a second meal period was required after 10 hours of work, rather than leaving the timing of second meal periods to implication, as previous wage orders generally had. (IWC interim wage order2000 (Mar. 1, 2000) subd. 9.) [24] The IWC also explained its intention that, absent waiver, employees were entitled to a thirty-minute meal period for every 5 hours of work  (IWC official notice, Summary of Interim Wage Order2000, italics added), a lesser requirement than the IWC's prior view that `a meal period shall be every 5 hours' (IWC meeting mins. (May 16, 1952) p. 33). From the text of the interim order and the official explanation, it is apparent the IWC intended a requirement parallel to that of the Legislature's section 512, with a second meal period due after 10 hours, rather than after an interval of no more than five hours following a first meal period. Thereafter, the IWC held public hearings and adopted revised wage orders for each industry, including the current version of Wage Order No. 5, wage order No. 5-2001. From our review of the text of the various wage orders, the IWC's official explanations of its intent behind these orders, and the transcripts of the IWC's numerous hearings, we conclude the IWC abandoned any requirement that work intervals be limited to five hours following the first meal break. With only limited exceptions, the IWC intended its 2001 wage orders to embrace section 512's meal period requirements, not impose different ones. Having borrowed the provisions of Assembly Bill No. 60 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.), including section 512, for its interim wage order, the IWC simply copied the interim wage order's meal provision into most of its industry-specific wage orders. (IWC public hearing transcript (June 30, 2000) pp. 7-10 [explaining intent to mirror Assem. Bill No. 60 on meals]; see, e.g., IWC wage order No. 2-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001); IWC wage order No. 3-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001); IWC wage order No. 6-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001); Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, §§ 11020, subd. 11(A), (B), 11030, subd. 11(A), (B), 11060, subd. 11(A), (B).) The IWC explained that under these wage orders, first meals would continue to be assured for employees working for a period of more than five (5) hours, while second meal periods would now be provided in accordance with Labor Code § 512(a). (IWC, Statement as to the Basis (Jan. 1, 2001) p. 19; see also IWC summary of amends. to wage orders Nos. 1-13, 15 & 17 (Jan. 1, 2001) [except as specified in wage orders Nos. 4, 5 & 12, employees are entitled to a 30-minute meal period for every 5 hours of work].) Thus, as to the majority of its 2001 wage orders, the IWC did not intend to impose a different meal period requirement than that spelled out in section 512; specifically, it did not intend to require employers to provide employees a second meal period no more than five hours after a first meal period. These orders and the statute are congruent; under each, a first meal period is guaranteed after five hours of work, while a second meal period is required only after 10 hours of work. The IWC varied slightly the language of wage orders Nos. 4-2001 and 5-2001. These two orders retained the same subdivision 11(A) language requiring a meal period for every five hours, as in other wage orders, but they omitted the subdivision 11(B) language used elsewhere to define the conditions for receiving, and for waiving, a second meal period. As we shall explain, this omission was for reasons related to meal period waivers, not meal timing. The IWC did not intend in Wage Order No. 5 to depart from the timing requirements contained in other wage orders or section 512. The IWC had originally modified the meal waiver requirements in wage orders Nos. 4 and 5 in 1993, in response to a health care industry petition to permit its employees to waive a second meal period on longer shifts in order to leave earlier. (See IWC petn. 93-1 (Jan. 25, 1993) pp. 31-32; IWC wage order No. 4-89, subd. 11(C) (as amended Aug. 21, 1993); IWC wage order No. 5-89, subd. 11(C) (as amended Aug. 21, 1993); IWC, Statement as to the Basis of amends. to §§ 2, 3 & 11 of IWC wage order No. 5-89 (June 29, 1993).) The IWC later extended similar waiver rights to all employees covered by these wage orders and three others, but that extension was among many wage order changes repealed by the Legislature in 1999. (IWC, Statement as to the Basis, overtime and related issues (Apr. 11, 1997) pp. 7-8; Stats. 1999, ch. 134, § 21, p. 1829.) Thereafter, health care representatives persuaded the IWC to at least preserve expanded waiver rights for their industry, along the lines of those originally afforded in 1993. (See IWC, Statement as to the Basis (Jan. 1, 2001) pp. 19-20.) Accordingly, wage orders No. 4-2001 and No. 5-2001 each contain a provision absent from other wage orders, permitting health care employees to waive one of two meal periods on longer shifts. (IWC wage order No. 4-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001) (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11040, subd. 11(D)); Wage Order No. 5, subd. 11(D).) [25] Notably, the waiver provisions permit meal waivers even on shifts in excess of 12 hours and thus conflict with language in the standard subdivision regulating second meal periods in other wage orders that limits second meal waivers to shifts of 12 hours or less (see, e.g., IWC wage order No. 2-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001) (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11020, subd. 11(B))). For this reason, the IWC elected to omit that standard subdivision from these two wage orders. (See IWC, Statement as to the Basis (Jan. 1, 2001) pp. 19-20.) Because the omission related to waiver and was not the product of any intent to include different meal timing requirements in Wage Order No. 5, we interpret that order as imposing the same timing requirements as those in most of the IWC's other wage orders and in section 512. [26] Hohnbaum contends he does not seek to require earlier second meal periods than provided for by section 512 (and, as we have determined, by Wage Order No. 5); rather, he seeks only to interpret Wage Order No. 5, subdivision 11(A) as requiring that first meal periods be timed to prevent work periods, before or after, exceeding five hours. While we agree that the period before a first meal is limited to five hours (see § 512, subd. (a)), we cannot agree that the current version of Wage Order No. 5 limits to five hours the amount of work after a meal. (37) First, such a reading of subdivision 11(A) in the IWC's current wage orders would render the subdivision 11(B) guarantee of a second meal period after 10 hours of work, included in most of those same orders, superfluous. (See, e.g., IWC wage order No. 2-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001) (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11020, subd. 11(A), (B)).) We avoid such constructions whenever possible. ( Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Bd. (2006) 40 Cal.4th 1, 14 [50 Cal.Rptr.3d 585, 145 P.3d 462].) [27] (38) Second, Hohnbaum's argument rests on the contention that as used by the IWC, `work period' is a term of art meaning `a continuing period of hours worked,' and thus the five-hour work period limit in subdivision 11(A) of the wage orders must preclude more than five hours of continuous work after a meal period. Work period is not defined in any wage order. If the IWC's wage orders once informally adhered to Hohnbaum's usage, its 2001 orders no longer do. Subdivision 11(B) in most of the current orders refers to a work period of more than ten (10) hours per day before a second meal period. (E.g., IWC wage order No. 1-2001 (Jan. 1, 2001) (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11010, subd. 11(B)).) Any such work period must have been broken by a first meal period and thus is not `a continuing period of hours worked.' Third, there is no evidence the IWC intended to supplement the requirements of section 512 in the fashion Hohnbaum suggests. The implication is to the contrary. Having received a legislative rebuke, the IWC sought to make its orders track Assembly Bill No. 60 (1999-2000 Reg. Sess.) as closely as possible and expressed hesitance about departing from statutory requirements. (See, e.g., IWC public hearing transcript (May 5, 2000) pp. 52-56.) What departures it made appear to have been conscious choices, expressly identified in the IWC's statement as to the basis, and frequently justified by explicit reliance on its authority to augment the Labor Code. (See IWC, Statement as to the Basis (Jan. 1, 2001) pp. 19-20.) In contrast, the prospect of preserving any meal timing requirement previously implicit in Wage Order No. 5, beyond the requirements of section 512, was never discussed in the agency's 2000 hearings nor in its publications describing and explaining its 2001 wage orders. In the absence of any such discussion, we conclude the IWC did not intend to preserve Hohnbaum's posited requirement. [28] (39) Accordingly, we conclude that Wage Order No. 5 imposes no meal timing requirements beyond those in section 512. Under the wage order, as under the statute, an employer's obligation is to provide a first meal period after no more than five hours of work and a second meal period after no more than 10 hours of work.