Employers got most of what they wanted in the long-awaited Brinker wage-and-hour ruling issued Thursday, April 12 by the California Supreme Court. But workers won some victories, too, and the court appeared to stick up for class actions more broadly, in contrast to some recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
The court ruled that employers need only permit meal breaks for employees — not ensure that they actually get taken. Employers are therefore not require to police or babysit their employees.
The court further rejected worker arguments that meal breaks must come no more than five hours apart. That piece of the ruling was surprising, given that employers had been so worried about the court's signals during oral argument that they asked, and were permitted, to file supplemental amicus curiae briefing on whether a tighter rule would apply prospectively only.