California employment lawyers expect a decision by the California Supreme Court on rules for employee rest and meal breaks within the next couple of months. The Supreme Court last month heard arguments in a potential class-action lawsuit over work breaks, and initial signs from the Court indicate that it is likely to rule in favor of giving employees flexibility with their meal and rest breaks.

The ruling will affect all non-unionized hourly workers. Lawyers for employee groups have been pushing for a decision that would require employers to ensure that their workers take proper meal and rest breaks. While California's labor laws provide for meal and rest breaks for employees, very often, these employees are not able to take their breaks because they are overworked. Employers have been known to deprive employees of tips if they take meal or rest breaks, or increase workload for employees, thereby ensuring that they are not able to take their work breaks.

The case involves Brinker International, which is being sued by workers who say that the restaurant chain makes it difficult for workers to take scheduled meal and rest breaks during busy times of the day. The case involves more than 60,000 current and former employees of Brinker International. Some judges in the California Supreme Court are in favor of requiring employers to mandate a rest break every 5 hours or so, to ensure that employees get the rest they need. Other judges have opined that it would be difficult to impose rigid work break requirements on employers.

The current imbroglio on work breaks between labor groups and employers has led to a number of lawsuits. The Supreme Court will be looking at lowering the number of work-break lawsuits, without imposing rigid requirements on employers.