Missing this in your records? Court says the burden now falls on employers
A California appellate court ruled Thursday that employers face an uphill battle defending meal break violations when their time records tell the wrong story.
The December 11 decision from the Third Appellate District Court of Appeal sends a clear message to HR departments: if your timekeeping system shows employees skipping meal breaks and you're not paying premiums, you've already lost half the fight.
The case involved Stephen Dieves, a truck driver who worked for Butte Sand Trucking Company for approximately nine months between January and October 2018. Dieves claimed the company talked a good game about meal breaks but created a workplace culture where taking them was essentially discouraged. When he was hired, according to his account, the safety director told him to sign an agreement for on-duty meal periods and that he'd have to do what every other driver did: "eat at 55 miles per hour."
His trainer reportedly reinforced the message, saying drivers didn't take meal breaks because that wasn't "the Butte Sand's way" unless they crossed state lines.
Dieves tried to get his claims certified as a class action. He backed up his allegations with company time records covering approximately 2 percent of shifts worked between May 2015 and November 2021. Those records, representing over 1,300 work shifts longer than five hours, showed something striking: not a single recorded meal break. An expert...
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