Employment Litigation – The California Legislature Should Take A Swing for Punitive Damages for Denied Meal and Break Times

Recently, the California Supreme Court denied review of Brewer v. Premier Golf Properties (2008) 168 Cal. App. 4th 1243. Brewer sued her former employer for Government Code violations and Labor Code violations pertaining to meal and break times. The trial resulted in a verdict in her favor including $195,000.00 in punitive damages.

Premier Golf Properties filed an appeal. The appellate court ruled that because the violation of the statutory provisions for meal and break times arose out of the employment contract, tort damages (punitive damages) were not available. But, the real basis for meal and break times, is public policy. This public policy was enacted into law in the Labor Code. Employers must give employees meal and break times. It is the decent and right thing to do.

Likewise, it is the decent and right thing not to discriminate against employees because of the employees race, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, medical condition, or physical disability unless it is a genuine, bona fide criteria that excludes someone. What is important, is that like legislatively mandated meal and break times. California has legislated public policy by mandating employers provide a discrimination free workplace. If the employer violates the public policy mandates embodied in the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the employer may be held liable for punitive damages. The same should be true for violations of California Labor Code dealing with meal and break time violations. Such a change will not harm employers that comply with the law.

Punitive damages act as a deterrent to wrongful, unlawful conduct. It just isn’t worth it for an employer to violate the law because of the risk of punitive damages being imposed for violation of the law. The prohibition against employment discrimination is based on public policy and codified in the Government Code Section 12940 et seq.. The requirement for meal and break time is based on the public policy codified in the Labor Code. Real life needs to hold people and employers responsible for their actions. When those actions are fraudulent, coercive or in conscious disreagrd of an employee’s rights and welfare, punivitve damages are appropriate.

The California legislature should amend the Labor Code to allow punitive damages for violations pertaining to meal and break times. Most employees live from paycheck to paycheck. They need protection from employers. And, in order to make sure that employees get their meal and break times, employers should face punitive damages if their failure to comply with the law constitutes fraud, coercion, or is in conscious disregard of their employees’ rights. While employers may have sighed a sigh of relief when Brewer was decided, it was on the backs of every day workers. It is time to take another swing for punitive damages.