Employees in California generally must take a 30-minute uninterrupted, off duty meal period (commonly referred to as a lunch break) within the first 5-hour work period if employees work more than 5 hours in a workday. Employees must receive a second meal period if they work more than 10 hours in a workday. If an employer fails to provide a nonexempt employee one or more of these meal periods in a workday, the employee is entitled to receive an additional one hour of wages as a premium on top of the regular wages. Accordingly, it is technically only illegal for employers to deny nonexempt employees a meal period when employers do not pay employees the one-hour premium wage for each workday with a missed meal period.
(See Link(s): Labor Code Section 226.7 and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders)