Los Angeles Meal & Rest Break Violations Lawyer

We Fight for Los Angeles Workers Denied Legally Required Breaks

When an employer cuts into your breaks, pressures you to skip them, or keeps you on call during what should be off-the-clock time, California law may give you the right to recover. At Laurel Employment Law, APC, we represent workers across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley who have been denied legally required meal and rest breaks. We work exclusively on behalf of employees, and we take an aggressive, strategic approach to holding employers accountable.

What California Law Requires

California sets some of the strongest break protections in the country. Under Labor Code Section 512, employers must generally provide non-exempt employees with an unpaid 30-minute meal period when the workday exceeds five hours and a second 30-minute meal period once the workday exceeds ten hours. Under Labor Code Section 226.7 and applicable wage orders, employees are also entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, or major fraction thereof.

Both types of breaks must be duty-free. An employer can’t require an employee to stay on call, monitor a phone, or perform any task during a required break. When a break is interrupted, shortened, or denied, it’s generally a violation regardless of whether the employer intended it.

Common Signs of a Violation

Meal and rest break violations in Los Angeles workplaces often look like this:

• Working through a meal period because staffing was short or a supervisor discouraged breaks
• Remaining reachable during a break by phone, radio, or monitoring system
• Receiving a break late in the shift, after the legally required timing has already passed
• Getting a shortened break lasting fewer than the required 30 or 10 minutes
• Timecards that don’t match reality, recording breaks that were never actually taken

Evidence of a violation can include pay stubs, timecards, work schedules, and messages from supervisors. Even informal communications showing you were expected to stay available can support a claim.

Why Los Angeles Workers Work With Us

Our founding attorney, Joshua White, spent more than a decade as a corporate executive, including serving as Head of Strategy and General Counsel for a large multinational corporation. That background gives us a clear view of how employers design workplace policies and construct their defenses when those policies are challenged.

Because we represent workers only, we don’t balance competing interests or hedge our strategy. We approach meal and rest break claims efficiently and aggressively, focused on pursuing the full value of our clients’ claims.