Is there an official rule stating that meal breaks must start 4 hours and 59 minutes into an employee’s eight-hour shift?

No statute, regulation or Labor Commissioner opinion expressly mandates that meal breaks start no later than 4 hours and 59 minutes (“4:59 practice”) into an eight-hour shift. The 4:59 practice is based on a commonly recognized best strategy to avoid the strict liability of a meal break violation.

California law provides that employers “shall not employ an employee for a work period of more than five hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes.” (Labor Code Section 512(a)).

There are limited exceptions to these requirements, but an employer should presume that