California Supreme Court holds that employers cannot adjust employee time to the nearest increment in case for denial of meal breaks
2021 case review: Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC
Contributors
Christian Scali
Plaintiffs brought a class action on behalf of employees of the defendant, claiming a violation of wage and hour laws and, specifically, failure to provide proper meal breaks. The trial court granted, and the Appellate Court upheld, a motion for summary judgment brought by the defendant.
The Supreme Court reversed that decision, holding, in the context of meal breaks, that an employer cannot adjust the worker’s time to a nearest increment, and that records for some employees that reflect failure to provide meal periods in compliance with the law raises a material issue of fact such that a motion for summary judgment should be denied. The Court remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.