What are my legal rights regarding lunch and rest periods as a salary & comission employee for an new car dealership in California?

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I work for in the parts department for a new car dealership in Carlsbad, California and am paid by salary and commission. I work 4 10 hour days per week with a 1 hour lunch break per day. No one in management has ever mentioned being allowed to take a "rest period" outside my 1 hour lunch, nor is it written about anywhere in the Employee Handbook. No one else ever takes a break either. Is it true that I'm legally entitled in California to a 10 minute break for every 4 hours worked provided the workday is 5 hours long? Does this also mean I get an extra 5 minute break after the 8th hour worked? Am I entitled to any compensation for the almost 3 years I haven't been taking breaks? I'm afraid to bring up the subject with management for fear of retaliation since I know they would be unhappy giving everyone rest periods in a busy and understaffed department.

-- Mark Crueger (yldsk8r@aol.com), January 14, 2005

Answers

First off, you're most likely an EXEMPT employee. This means the lunch rules & the break rules & so forth don't apply. Besides, regular, non-exempt employees, for whom the rules DO apply, are only allowed, by state law, a 30 minute lunch break. And my goodness. You're either sitting or standing around the majority of the day. You know as well as I do, you can take a "break" just about whenever you want it. Why worry about it?

Any other questions, just email me.

Best of luck,

Jared--veteran car guy

-- Jared Doss (jared.doss@gmail.com), February 17, 2005.


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