California Supreme Court Provides Guidance on Meal Breaks: Donohue v. AMN

Published Date: March 10, 2023

Supreme Court case Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC (2019) 7 Cal.5th 699 provided guidance on meal breaks under California law. In this case, the court clarified that employers have a “continuing obligation” to ensure that their employees are provided with the statutorily required meal breaks, and that this obligation does not end as soon as the meal break begins.

The California Supreme Court held that an employer’s obligation is not fulfilled by merely making meal breaks available to employees, but rather, the employer must ensure that the employees are able to take their meal breaks free from duties and pressures that would prevent them from doing so. The court stated that if the employer knows or should know that an employee is not taking a meal break, the employer must take affirmative steps to make sure the employee does.

Additionally, the court held that an employer can be held liable for not providing a meal break even if the employee never asked for one or never complained about not receiving one. The onus is on the employer to ensure that employees are taking their meal breaks and not on the employee to ask for one.

In summary, the Donohue v. AMN Services case clarified that employers in California have a “continuing obligation” to ensure that their employees are provided with the statutorily required meal breaks, and that employers must ensure that employees are able to take their meal breaks free from duties and pressures that would prevent them from doing so. The court also held that an employer can be held liable for not providing a meal break even if the employee never asked for one or never complained about not receiving one.

Employees are legally entitled to breaks according to the hours worked. Whenever an employee does not receive adequate breaks as required by law, the employee(s) should contact employment lawyers with experience defending employee rights.