California Meal & Rest Break Premium Checker

1. Rules

Rule set

Default hourly rate ($)

The numbers behind the preset (edit any of them)

First meal required after this many hours of work

First meal must begin within (hours)

Meal length (minutes)

First meal waivable up to (hours)

Second meal required after (hours)

Second meal must begin within (hours)

Second meal waivable up to (hours)

First rest break owed from (hours)

Rest break per this many hours

...or a fraction over (hours)

Meal premium (hours of pay per workday)

Rest premium (hours of pay per workday)

The California preset summarises Labor Code 226.7 and the IWC wage orders. Industry wage orders, collective bargaining agreements and some occupations (for example commercial drivers and some healthcare roles) differ. Check the numbers against your wage order.

2. Timecards

One shift per line: Name, date, in, out, meal, second meal, rest breaks taken, rate, waiver. Meal is 12:45-13:10 or blank for none. Rest breaks and rate may be blank. Put waiver at the end if a signed meal waiver is on file. An out time before the in time means the next day.

Paste timecards, then click Audit.

Result

Findings

Employee	Date	Issue	Detail

Premium owed by workday

Employee	Date	Meal	Rest	Total

By employee

Employee	Workdays	Days owed	Premium

How it works

Meals: a first meal is required when the employee works more than five hours and must begin before the end of the fifth hour of work; a second is required after ten hours and must begin before the end of the tenth. A meal under 30 minutes, a meal that starts late and a missing meal are each flagged. Time spent on meals is not counted as work.

Waivers: mark a line waiver and a missing first meal on a shift of six hours or less, or a missing second meal on a shift of twelve hours or less where the first meal was taken, is listed as waived instead of a violation. Keep the signed waiver.

Rest breaks: ten minutes per four hours or major fraction. If you record the number taken, a shortfall is flagged; if you leave it blank, the page tells you what was owed and counts no premium.

Premium: one hour of pay at the rate on the line, for meals, and one more for rest, at most once each per employee per workday, however many violations that day had. A workday split across several lines is combined.

Not modelled: on-duty meal agreements, industry wage-order exceptions, collective bargaining carve-outs, split shifts, daylight-saving changes, and whether a break was interrupted (record an interrupted meal as short or missing). Time rounding is not applied, since the punches you paste are taken as they are.

Related tools: the overtime pay calculator for the hours past eight in a California day, the fair workweek schedule checker for predictive scheduling pay, and the FLSA regular-rate overtime audit for overtime paid on the wrong rate.

Checked: the test suite recomputes hand-worked cases at the exact boundaries: a meal beginning at 5:00 versus 5:01 into the shift, 29 versus 30 minutes, 5 versus 5.01 hours worked, and 10 versus 10.01 hours.

Common questions

What is a California meal and rest break premium?

When an employer does not provide a required meal period or rest break, California Labor Code section 226.7 requires it to pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each workday on which a meal period was not provided, and one more hour for each workday on which a rest break was not provided. That is at most two premium hours per employee per workday.

When must a California meal break start?

A 30-minute uninterrupted meal period must begin before the end of the fifth hour of work, and a second one before the end of the tenth hour. A shift of six hours or less can have the first meal waived by mutual consent, and a shift of twelve hours or less can have the second waived if the first was taken. A meal that starts late, runs short or is interrupted counts as a missed meal period.

How many rest breaks does an employee get in California?

Ten paid minutes for every four hours worked or major fraction of four hours. In practice that is none under three and a half hours, one up to six hours, two over six and up to ten, and three over ten and up to fourteen. The page counts the rest breaks you record and flags a shortfall; if you leave the column blank it only notes what was owed.

How do I audit timecards for meal break violations?

Paste one line per shift with the clock-in, clock-out, meal start and end, the rest breaks taken and the hourly rate. The page flags every late, short or missing meal, every rest break shortfall, and totals the premium pay owed with at most one meal premium and one rest premium per employee per workday.

Is the premium calculated on the base wage or the regular rate?

The statute says regular rate of compensation, which can be higher than the base hourly wage when the employee also earns shift differentials or non-discretionary bonuses. The page uses the rate you type for each line, so enter the regular rate of compensation if it differs from base pay and confirm the figure with your payroll provider.

Is my timecard data uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser, nothing is sent to a server, and there are no accounts. Employee names stay on your device.