Athena v. Pelican Brewing Co., 345 Or. App. 172 (2025) suggests that Oregon law did require employers to pay employees for the full 30 minutes of shortened meal breaks even before the applicable state regulation was updated in 2010.
In an amended opinion accommodating a changed interpretation of Oregon law, the Ninth Circuit held that a federal district court abused its discretion in refusing to certify a class of employees who alleged that fast food employer Jack in the Box did not pay workers for interrupted meal periods more than 20 minutes long. Otherwise leaving substantially unchanged its prior conclusions in the case, the appeals court observed that the Oregon Court of Appeals held in Maza v. Waterford Operations, LLC, 300 Or. App. 471 (2019) that Oregon employers had to pay for shortened meal breaks, and that Oregon law required employers to pay employees for the full 30 minutes of shortened meal breaks even before the applicable Oregon wage-hour regulation was updated in 2010 (Gessele v. Jack in the Box Inc., Nos. 23-2522 and 23-2527 (9th Cir. Apr. 20, 2026)).
Employees of the Jack in the Box fast food restaurant chain sued the employer challenging three of its policies. Specifically, the employees alleged that the employer over-deducted from employees’ wages for a Workers’ Benefit Fund (WBF), did not pay employees for interrupted meal periods more than 20 minutes long, and deducted employees’ pay for non-slip shoes.
Ninth Circuit’s prior opinion. In a November...
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