Goyette & Associates, Inc.

Employers Required to Provide Breaks, but not Required to Ensure no Work is Done - This morning, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the case Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court of San Diego County. Employees who worked for Brinker Restaurants, such as Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy, claimed that they were not provided the meal and rest breaks to which they were entitled.

The economic downturn since 2007 has affected many aspects of labor and employment law, including wage and hour matters. Efforts by employers to lower labor costs as one of the means to deal with budget shortfalls have included refusing to grant pay increases in collective bargaining negotiations, minimizing or eliminating overtime, and basically doing everything possible to ‘get more out of existing (or even reduced) staff’ without hiring more employees.