Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center (2017) 9 Cal.App.5th 1204, review granted July 12, 2017, S241655
Labor Code section 512, subdivision (a), requires employees to take two meal periods for shifts exceeding 12 hours, but Industrial Wage Commission Wage Order No. 5-2001, section 11(D), has authorized healthcare workers to waive one required meal period on shifts exceeding 8 hours. This action was filed by three healthcare workers against their hospital employer for illegally allowing them to waive their second meal periods on shifts exceeding 12 hours. The trial court granted summary judgment to the hospital. The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that the Wage Order was valid because its section 11(D) was authorized by Senate Bill 327, which amended Labor Code section 516, even though that statute conflicts with section 512, subdivision (a).
The California Supreme Court granted review, and will address the following questions: (1) Did Senate Bill 327 constitute a change in the law or a clarification in the law? (2) Is Wage Order No. 5, section 11(D), partially invalid to the extent it authorizes healthcare workers to waive their second meal periods on shifts exceeding 12 hours? (3) To what extent, if any, does the language of section 516 regarding the “health and welfare of those workers” affect the analysis?
Peder K. Batalden
Horvitz & Levy LLP
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