Frequently Asked Questions
about Employment Law
Wage and Hour Questions
Q: An employee worked for a company for three years and never took a single vacation day. When she quit two months ago, the boss refused to pay out her vacation time. Is this legal?
A: No. In California, vacation time, once accrued, cannot be lost. A company has the right to put a cap on it so that no more will accrue until some of it is used, but the time already earned cannot be taken away. When an employee separates from a company, all earned but unused vacation time must be paid to the employee. Failure to do so can result in the employer having to pay up to a maximum of thirty days' additional pay!
Q: Can an employee skip my two fifteen-minute breaks and add them to lunch to get a full hour instead?
A: No. While a lunch break must at least thirty minutes, an employer that provides a one-hour lunch break must still allow its non-exempt employees two ten-minute breaks for each four hours that the employee works.
Q: Can an employee take off two hours one day and make them up the next?
A: It depends. California laws regarding so-called "comp time" are complicated, and require a written agreement in advance. Even where all requirements are met, if an employer allows an employee to work the extra hours on a different day, the employer will have to pay time and a half for all hours worked in excess of eight hours, etc.
Q: Things got really busy at the store today and nobody got a lunch break. Can the employees go home half an hour early to make up for it?
A: No. In California, most employees are covered by a wage order that requires the employer to provide a meal period of no less than thirty minutes. For each day that an employer fails to provide that meal break, the employer must pay the employee one extra hour of pay.
Q: Can employers make an employee take an hour for lunch?
A: Yes. In California, employers are required to provide most employees a meal period of at least 30 minutes, but nothing prohibits the employer from requiring the employee to take a meal period of one hour. (However, if an employer requires an employee to take several hours for lunch, then it is possible that this is really a "split shift" and the employee may be entitled to additional compensation.)