Governor Signs Bill to Exempt Certain Employees from Meal and Rest Periods

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed AB 569, a bill to amend Labor Code § 512, to exempt certain union employees from existing meal peroid requirements if they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that contains meal period provisions.

Existing law prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, an employer from requiring an employee to work more than 5 hours per day without providing a meal period and, notwithstanding that provision, authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if the order is consistent with the health and welfare of affected employees. This bill would exempt from these provisions employees in a construction occupation, commercial drivers, employees in the security services industry employed as security officers, and employees of electrical and gas corporations or local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, if those employees are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement containing specified terms, including meal period provisions. It would specify that its provisions do not affect the requirements for meal periods for certain other employees or employers.

Section 512 of the Labor Code is amended to read:

512.  (a) 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. 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.

   (b) 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.

   (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to an employee in the wholesale
baking industry who is subject to an Industrial Welfare Commission
wage order and who is covered by a valid collective bargaining
agreement that provides for a 35-hour workweek consisting of five
7-hour days, payment of one and one-half times the regular rate of
pay for time worked in excess of seven hours per day, and a rest
period of not less than 10 minutes every two hours.

   (d) If an employee in the motion picture industry or the
broadcasting industry, as those industries are defined in Industrial
Welfare Commission Wage Order Numbers 11 and 12, is covered by a
valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for meal periods
and includes a monetary remedy if the employee does not receive a
meal period required by the agreement, then the terms, conditions,
and remedies of the agreement pertaining to meal periods apply in
lieu of the applicable provisions pertaining to meal periods of
subdivision (a) of this section, Section 226.7, and Industrial
Welfare Commission Wage Order Numbers 11 and 12.

   (e) Subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to an employee specified
in subdivision (f) if both of the following conditions are
satisfied:

   (1) The employee is covered by a valid collective bargaining
agreement.
   (2) The valid collective bargaining agreement expressly provides
for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees,
and expressly provides for meal periods for those employees, final
and binding arbitration of disputes concerning application of its
meal period provisions, premium wage rates for all overtime hours
worked, and a regular hourly rate of pay of not less than 30 percent
more than the state minimum wage rate.

   (f) Subdivision (e) applies to each of the following employees:

   (1) An employee employed in a construction occupation.
   (2) An employee employed as a commercial driver.
   (3) An employee employed in the security services industry as a
security officer who is registered pursuant to Chapter 11.5
(commencing with Section 7580) of Division 3 of the Business and
Professions Code, and who is employed by a private patrol operator
registered pursuant to that chapter.
   (4) An employee employed by an electrical corporation, a gas
corporation, or a local publicly owned electric utility.

   (g) The following definitions apply for the purposes of this
section:

   (1) "Commercial driver" means an employee who operates a vehicle
described in Section 260 or 462 of, or subdivision (b) of Section
15210 of, the Vehicle Code.
   (2) "Construction occupation" means all job classifications
associated with construction by Article 2 (commencing with Section
7025) of Chapter 9 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions
Code, including work involving alteration, demolition, building,
excavation, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, improvement, and
repair, and any other similar or related occupation or trade.
   (3) "Electrical corporation" has the same meaning as provided in
Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code.
   (4) "Gas corporation" has the same meaning as provided in Section
222 of the Public Utilities Code.
   (5) "Local publicly owned electric utility" has the same meaning
as provided in Section 224.3 of the Public Utilities Code.

  SEC. 2.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, paragraphs (1)
and (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 512 of the Labor Code do not
affect the nature or scope of the law related to meal periods,
including the timing of commencement of a meal period, for employees
or employers not specifically covered by paragraphs (1) and (2) of
subdivision (e) of Section 512 of the Labor Code.

  SEC. 3.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including
applicable Industrial Welfare Commission orders, the addition of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (f) to Section 512 of the Labor Code
made by this act does not affect the nature or scope of the law
relating to meal periods for security officers who are not covered by
a valid collective bargaining agreement.

This is the only wage and hour bill we've seen come back with a signature. If we missed any, let us know.

Comments

[Kent]

How about SB 1304 as a "wage-but-no-hour" bill? First paid leave in California, isn't it? http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_1301-1350/sb_1304_bill_20100930_chaptered.pdf

[KlineJasmine]

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[Security Guard Training]

I agree that this is pretty fair and I hope no one would contest this bill.

[new balance]

Weep no more , no sigh , nor groan. Sorrow calls no time that's gone .

[Taobao buy]

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[ClubPenguinCheats]

It would specify that its provisions do not affect the requirements for meal periods for certain other employees or employers.

[how to copy games]

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[bad boys 3]

I agree that this is pretty fair and I hope no one would contest this bill.I like This!

[keylogger for Mac]

An employee employed in the security services industry has to paly the role of a teacher.

[jordan 11]

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[cherry]

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[Camarad]

Searched for the information on this theme, and only here I found it. It would specify that its provisions do not affect the requirements for meal periods for certain other employees or employers.

[Security Guard]

Seems only fair. I noticed employees in the security services industry employed as security officers are affected by this bill as well. I've been working as a private security guard myself for over 30 years and it was about time this bill was signed. Thanks for the info.

[Channing Tatum]

An informative blog! This bill would exempt from these provisions employees in a construction occupation, commercial drivers, employees in the security services industry employed as security officers, and employees of electrical and gas corporations or local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, if those employees are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement containing specified terms, including meal period provisions. It would specify that its provisions do not affect the requirements for meal periods for certain other employees or employers.