I would like to know if our exempt employees are required to take a meal break in the same manner as hourly/nonexempt employees?

When the Legislature codified the meal break requirements from the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) orders in Labor Code Section 512(a), it did not limit the kinds of employees to whom those requirements applied.

According to the enforcement agency, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, it appears that exempt employees are entitled to a meal period pursuant to Labor Code Section 512(a), but the one-hour premium pay requirement for a missed meal period does not apply.

Historically, the mandate for a meal period was found only in the IWC wage orders. If an employee was properly classified as exempt in Section 1 of the appropriate order, the meal