DOES IT ADD UP?
Meal and Rest Break Penalty Calculator
Work out the premium you are owed: one hour of pay at your regular rate, per day, per violation type.
Estimate Your Break Premiums
Enter your rate and a typical week. Everything you type stays in your browser, and your employer has no way to see that you used this.
How This Calculator Works
The premium is one added hour of pay at your regular rate for each workday with a meal-period violation, plus one added hour for each workday with a rest-period violation. At $20 an hour, five days a week, with four missed meals and three missed rests each week, that is (4 + 3) × $20 = $140 a week, or about $7,280 a year.
Two rules shape the number. There is a maximum of two premium hours per workday, one for meals and one for rest. And the estimate window caps at 36 months, with a possible fourth year noted.
What Breaks Does California Require?
Meal: 30 minutes, unpaid, off duty, starting before the end of your fifth hour of work, and a second before the end of the tenth (Labor Code 512).
Rest: a paid 10 minutes for every 4 hours worked or major fraction, counted as time worked (IWC wage orders).
A late, interrupted, on-call, or desk lunch counts as a violation. The employer has to relieve you of all duty.
What Is the Labor Code 226.7 Premium?
One hour of pay at the regular rate, per day, per violation type. The regular rate includes nondiscretionary bonuses. Premiums are wages, which is what drives the three-year window and the derivative penalty exposure.
Can I Waive My Breaks?
A meal waiver is allowed by mutual consent when the shift is six hours or less, and a second meal is waivable on a 12-hour shift if the first was taken. On-duty meal agreements are narrow and revocable. An auto-deducted lunch you never took is a classic violation.
What Should I Do With This Number?
Three steps. Write down your break pattern this week. Request your payroll and time records, which Labor Code 226(b) gives your employer 21 days to produce. Then bring the numbers to an attorney.
Retaliation for asserting these rights is illegal. See what counts as retaliation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Get the Premium and My Regular Pay?
Yes. The premium is added on top of the wages you already earned.
What If My Whole Crew Misses Breaks?
That is a class or PAGA path, and it changes how the case is built. Class action and PAGA claims.
How Far Back Can I Claim?
Three years, with a possible fourth year under the unfair competition law.
Employment Law Resources
- Labor Code section 226.7 — premium pay for missed breaks
- Labor Code section 512 — meal periods
- California Labor Commissioner — meal and rest break FAQ
- Business and Professions Code section 17200 — the fourth-year reach
Premium math is reviewed each January.
Tell Us What Happened
One business day for a response. You pay nothing unless we win.