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Politics & Government

Courts to California Workers: Eat Lunch at Your Desk

State rules private employers no longer required to provide lunch breaks.

If you work in California, the lunch break you’d always assumed to be a right just became a privilege.

And you can thank the California Supreme Court for giving your boss the legal tool to make your workday that much more miserable.

Associated Press reports that the state’s high court on Thursday voted unanimously in support of a ruling that also calls for the elimination of mandated rest breaks.

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The ruling comes in response to a case filed nine years ago by employees complaining of missed breaks against Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s and Macaroni Grill, among other chain restaurants. 

Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar explained in the court’s written opinion that the employers are not “obligated to police meal breaks and ensure no work thereafter is performed."

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An employer-backed trade group lauded the ruling.

"The courts are making it clear that you have to create a system and a procedure that fully allows employees an opportunity to take breaks and meal periods, and if they do that they do not have to be Big Brother and individually monitor each employee to ensure that they've taken every bit of their breaks," said Steve Hirschfeld, the founder and CEO of the Employment Law Alliance, AP reports.

A group representing workers rights said in a prepared statement that the ruling ignores unique issues that low-wage workers such as Chili’s employees face that are likely to dissuade them for asking for breaks, according to AP.

"The decision ... should have required employers to take affirmative steps to provide meal periods, and not just adopt policies that allow them," said Fernando Flores of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center.

"The (court) previously held that employees who are denied their rest and meal periods face greater risk of work-related accidents — especially low-wage workers who engage in manual labor."

The ruling is expected to save companies millions of dollars in legal costs associated with class-action lawsuits, AP reports.

Meal and rest breaks have been mandated for decades and in 2001 California became one of just a few states to fine employers for violations.

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