Los Angeles, CAWhile the term “coffee break” didn’t show up until the 1950s, two U.S. companies around the turn of the century offered midmorning and midafternoon breaks but their employees had to provide the coffee and they didn’t get a break time to enjoy it. Fast forward to May 2022: Meal and rest period premiums are now “wages” under California labor law.
Paid rest breaks came about thanks to caffeine, Michael Pollan explains in his book, "This is Your Mind on Plants". The coffee break – free coffee plus paid time to drink it, AKA today’s rest break—was established by a company called Los Wigwam Weavers, as told in the 2020 book "Coffeeland" by historian Augustine Sedgewick. The owner, Phil Greinetz hired older men to operate his looms (younger employees had been lost to the war) but they couldn’t keep up. Greinetz then hired women who had the dexterity necessary to work the looms but lacked endurance to work eight- hour shifts. At a company meeting to discuss this problem, employees requested two 15-minute breaks with coffee. Greinetz discovered that the women produced more than the men, maybe fueled by caffeine, but they were docked 30 minutes of pay each day. That meant employees were making less than minimum wage, which brought the first rest break lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Pollan explains that the federal...
; ; ; agreed to pay $17.07 million to settle federal allegations of illegal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices on Friday, marking the Justice Department's first resolution unde...