Cal-Peculiarities: How California Employment Law is Different 2022 Edition

©2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP  www.seyfarth.com 2022 Cal-Peculiarities | 219 26+ Employees < 26 Employees 1/1/2020 > 9 hrs/day or > 50 hrs/week n/a 1/1/2023 > 9 hrs/day or > 50 hrs/week n/a 1/1/2021 > 8.5 hrs/day, or > 45 hrs/week n/a 1/1/2024 > 8.5 hrs/day or > 45 hrs/week n/a 1/1/2022 > 8 hrs/day or > 40 hrs/week > 12 hrs/day 1/1/2025 > 8 hrs/day or > 40 hrs/week > 12 hrs/day Wage Order 14, meanwhile, continues to define agricultural employees as workers engaged in  the preparation, care, and treatment of farm land, pipeline, or ditches,  the sowing and planting of any agricultural (generally, farm) or horticultural (generally, garden, orchard, or nursery) commodity,  the care of any agricultural or horticultural commodity,  the harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodity,  the assembly and storage of any agricultural or horticultural commodity,  the raising, feeding and management of livestock, fur bearing animals, poultry, fish, mollusks, and insects,  the harvesting of fish for commercial sale as defined by Fish and Game Code section 45, or  the conservation, improvement, or maintenance of a farm and its tools and equipment. 7.8 Meal Periods Section 11 of most wage orders states: “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.” An off-duty meal period may be unpaid, but unless the employee is relieved of all duty during the 30-minute meal period, the entire period counts as time worked. Labor Code sections 226.7 and 512 also address meal periods. Section 226.7 forbids an employer to require an employee to work during any meal or rest period that is mandated by an IWC orde r. 212 Section 512 requires that employees “provid[e]” 30-minute meal periods for employees working more than five hours (one meal period) or working more than ten hours (two meal periods) . 213 ( As to the meaning of “provide,” a word that does not appear in the wage orders, see § 7.8.5.) Section 11 applies only to nonexempt workers. A literal interpretation of Section 512, however, could extend a general meal-period entitlement to all employees, exempt as well as nonexempt. The DLSE noted this point in opining that exempt employees as well as nonexempt employees are entitled to meal periods . 214 Y et the DLSE also acknowledged that “no premium pay may be imposed on an employer who fails to provide a meal period to an exempt employee.”