Can I assign a time when an employee must take a lunch break?

As an employer, you are entitled to set your employees’ work schedules according to your business needs and in compliance with the law. This includes scheduling start and end times, as well as meal and rest period times, so long as meal and rest periods are scheduled in accordance with the parameters of the Labor Code.

An employee has no more right to refuse to take a meal break as scheduled than they would refusing to come to work on time. As the employer, you may set the work schedule and have every right to enforce that schedule. You may discipline an employee who refuses to comply with the schedule as it is set, just as you would for an employee who does not come to