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California · meal and rest premiums, not extra overtime hours

The missed lunch is a wage. The missed rest is a second wage. Neither is an overtime hour.

Cal. Lab. Code § 512 says when a meal must be provided. IWC Wage Orders 4/5/7 § 12 say when a rest must be authorized. § 226.7 says what each costs when it is not: one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation for each workday the meal period is not provided, and one additional hour for each workday the rest period is not provided. The DIR meal-period FAQ is the sentence payroll still misses — that additional hour is not counted as hours worked for overtime. The DIR rest FAQ is the other sentence: multiple missed rests in a day are still one rest hour, not one hour per rest. This calculator keeps each premium on its own line so a missed break cannot inflate the 8/12 split.

The rule this page actually runs

Labor Code 512 is a five-hour / ten-hour statute with written waivers in the 5–6 hour and 10–12 hour bands. Brinker tells you when during the shift the meal has to start. On-duty agreements are a separate written animal. None of that is in the math below. The engine on this page is the payroll-shaped remainder after those waivers, plus the IWC rest line:

Worked > 6 hours and unpaid lunch < 30 minutes → first meal missing
Worked > 12 hours and unpaid lunch < 60 minutes → second meal missing
Either meal condition → one hour at the regular rate, once per workday
Worked ≥ 3.5 hours → rest required (net 10 min per 4h or major fraction; DLSE major fraction = more than 2 hours)
This UI has no rest-taken flag: if rest is required, treat it as missed → one hour at the regular rate, once per workday, not per missed rest
Meal and rest stack: two 226.7 hours if both apply
Those hours do not enter regular / OT / DT minutes

Work six hours and one minute with no lunch at $20 and you owe $20 on the meal line and $20 on the rest line. Work five hours with no lunch and this page charges nothing for the meal (the 5–6 hour meal is waivable and we are not guessing whether anyone waived it) but it does charge the rest hour, because five hours is at or above 3.5. Work thirteen hours with a 30-minute lunch and the second meal is the problem (lunch is under 60) plus the rest hour. Work thirteen hours with no lunch and both meals are missing — still one meal premium, because 226.7 meal is “for each workday,” not per missed meal — plus one rest premium, because the DIR Rest FAQ is one rest hour per workday, not per missed rest.

The $200 check

Eight hours, zero lunch, $20 an hour: $160 on the regular line, $20 on the meal line, $20 on the rest line, overtime minutes unchanged at zero. Load the preset. If you instead clock 8:00 to 21:00 with no lunch, you will see Labor Code 510 carve 8 regular + 4 OT + 1 double time, plus one $20 meal premium plus one $20 rest premium. The overtime minutes match a 13-hour day that had a legal meal; the premiums sit beside them.

Rest-break assumption (this UI only has lunch minutes)

IWC § 12 is “ten (10) minutes net rest time per four (4) hours or major fraction thereof,” and “a rest period need not be authorized for employees whose total daily work time is less than three and one-half (3 ½) hours.” The DIR Rest FAQ states that DLSE considers anything more than two hours to be a major fraction of four. Typical hour-entry tools cannot see whether a rest was given in the middle of a four-hour block. This punch panel has unpaid lunch and no rest-taken flag. Assumption, labeled here and on the ticket: if hours worked require one or more rests, count them as missed and add one LC 226.7 hour for that workday. A 30-minute unpaid lunch means the meal was allowed; it is not treated as a rest. Under 3.5 hours: no rest required, no rest premium.

The DIR Rest FAQ does not say one 226.7 hour total for any meal-or-rest violation. It says one hour for rest per workday, not per rest. The meal FAQ states its own hour. This page stacks them.

In scope

  • One meal premium per workday at the regular rate
  • First meal if worked > 6h and lunch < 30 (5–6h waivable)
  • Second meal if worked > 12h and lunch < 60
  • One rest premium per workday at the regular rate when hours require a rest (no rest-taken flag; required rests treated as missed)
  • Meal and rest stack (two 226.7 hours) when both apply
  • LC 510 overtime on the same punches, premiums excluded from OT hours

Out of scope

  • Brinker timing (end of 5th / 10th hour)
  • On-duty meal agreements
  • Recovery periods
  • IWC-order industry exceptions
  • A rest-taken checkbox this UI does not have — misses are inferred as documented

FAQ

Is the California meal or rest premium overtime?

No. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement states that the additional hour is not counted as hours worked for purposes of overtime calculations. An 8-hour day with no lunch at $20 is $160 in wages plus a $20 meal premium plus a $20 rest premium (two 226.7 hours), with overtime minutes still at zero.

When does this calculator treat a first meal as required?

Labor Code 512 requires a 30-minute meal when the work period is more than five hours, waivable by mutual consent if the total work period is no more than six hours. This page treats the 5–6 hour band as waivable and flags a missing first meal only when hours worked exceed 6 and unpaid lunch is under 30 minutes.

When is a second meal flagged?

The statute requires a second 30-minute meal when the employee works more than ten hours, waivable if total hours are no more than twelve and the first meal was not waived. This page flags a second-meal problem only when hours worked exceed 12 and unpaid lunch is under 60 minutes (two 30-minute meals). Maximum one meal premium per workday.

Do meal and rest premiums stack on the same workday?

Yes. The DIR Rest Periods FAQ says that if the employer does not provide all of the rest periods required in a workday, the employee is entitled to one additional hour of pay for that workday, not one additional hour for each rest period. That is a cap inside rest, not a cap across meal and rest. The DIR Meal Periods FAQ states a separate additional hour for a missing meal. This page adds both 226.7 hours when both apply.

How does this page count rest breaks with only a lunch box?

IWC Wage Orders 4, 5, and 7 § 12 require a net 10-minute paid rest per four hours or major fraction thereof. DLSE treats anything more than two hours as a major fraction of four. No rest is required if total daily work time is less than three and one-half hours. This punch UI has unpaid lunch minutes and no rest-taken flag. Rest-break assumption: if hours worked require one or more rests, they are treated as missed and one LC 226.7 hour is added for that workday — not one hour per missed rest. Lunch minutes are not treated as a rest.

Are Brinker timing and on-duty meals in this calculator?

No. Brinker timing (when during the shift the meal must start), on-duty meal agreements, recovery periods, and IWC-order industry exceptions are out of scope. This page is the premium for a missing required meal based on hours worked and lunch minutes, the rest premium under the no-rest-flag assumption, plus the ordinary Labor Code 510 overtime split on those same hours.