Call to Schedule

310-303-3951 Call to Schedule

California Labor Code “Day of Rest” Requirements

Previous Post

December 27, 2018

In the California Supreme Court case, Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Inc. (2017) 2 Cal.5th 1074, the Court addressed unsettled questions relating to employees’ guaranteed day of rest under the California Labor Code.  Labor Code section 551 entitles every employee “one day’s rest therefrom in seven.”  [Lab. Code § 551.] Labor Code section 552 prohibits an employer from “caus[ing] his employees to work more than six days in seven.” [ Lab. Code § 552.]  These statutes do not apply, however, “when the total hours of employment do not exceed 30 hours in any week or six hours in any one day thereof.”  [Lab. Code § 556; see also Mendoza, at p. 1078.]  The Mendoza court explained these statutes in the following manner:

  1. Employees are entitled to one day of rest for each workweek (as defined by the employer), rather than one rest day in every consecutive seven day period. [Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Inc., supra, 2 Cal.5th at p.1078.]  The California Labor Code refers to a week or workweek as a “fixed and regularly recurring period.” This can be Sunday to Saturday, or Monday to Sunday, not a rolling period of any seven consecutive days.  [Id. at p. 1084.] This means that an employee could essentially work more than six consecutive days without a day of rest if the days of work stretch across more than one workweek.  This “week-by-week” interpretation can be best understood by dividing the calendar month into seven day blocks (such as Monday to Sunday). If an employee takes a day of rest early in the workweek (Tuesday) and then another rest day late in the next workweek (Sunday), that employee will essentially work eleven consecutive days without a rest day.  This is not per se prohibited under the law.  [Id. at p. 1080.] The court explained that for every calendar month, an employee is guaranteed no less than one day of rest for every seven days worked.  Therefore, rest days need not fall on every seventh day, but can be spaced out differently in a calendar month, “so long as the number of rest days received by the employee amounts to the number of calendar days divided by seven.” [Id. at p. 1086.]
  2. Employees who work six hour shifts or less on every day of the given workweek are not entitled to a rest day. [Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Inc., supra, 2 Cal.5th at p. 1078.] However, this applies only if the employee never works a shift of more than six hours in any day of the given week. Also, the day of rest guarantee does not apply “when the total hours of employment do not exceed 30 hours in any week.” [Id. at p. 1084.]
  3. Finally, an employer “causes” an employee to go without a day of rest “when it induces the employee to forgo rest to which he or she is entitled.”  [Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Inc., supra, 2 Cal.5th at p. 1078.]  An employee can, however, independently choose not to take a day of rest and an employer is not prohibited from allowing or permitting the employee to do so.  [Id.]  “An employer may not encourage its employees to forgo rest or conceal the entitlement to rest, but is not liable simply because an employee chooses to work a seventh day.”  [Id. at p. 1091.]

What precautions should employers take?

    • Update their employee handbooks to clearly define their workweek.
    • Add a provision in their employee handbooks advising employees of their entitlement to one day of rest for each workweek.
    • Train managers and/or supervisors to schedule employees so that they do not end up covering another employee’s shift where they would be forced to work a workweek without a day of rest.
    • Train managers and/or supervisors not to force, coerce, pressure, or affirmatively seek to motivate employees to forgo their entitled day of rest.
    • Ensure employees submit a signed writing when they choose to forgo their day of rest stating that they have “independently” chosen to work.

Need more information?
ESKRIDGE LAW may be contacted by phone (310/303-3951), by fax (310/303-3952) or by email (geskridge@eskridgelaw.net).  Please visit our website at eskridge.hv-dev.com.

This article is based on the law as of the date posted at the top of the article.  This article does not constitute the provision of legal advice, and does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship with Eskridge Law.