watching america change
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2598422,00.htmlBreak required before 6th hour of work
-snip-
Under regulations that took effect Friday, employers must allow their workers to take a daily lunch break prior to their sixth hour on the job. The old rules dictated the break be offered before the fifth hour, and administration officials say the change creates flexibility that will benefit employers and employees.
"It doesn't take away the lunch period at all," Labor and Workforce Development Agency Assistant Secretary Rick Rice said, in response to criticism from the California Labor Federation claiming the change amounted to the elimination of an employee's legal right to a lunch break.
Union officials blasted the rule change, as well as the method used to implement it, insisting the rule frees businesses from the legal requirement that they provide employees a lunch break.
-snip-
The Schwarzenegger administration enacted the adjustments as an "emergency" regulation change, allowing them to take effect immediately. Today is the final day of the public-comment period.
-snip-
But now -- to encourage workers to stay out of court and discourage unscrupulous lawyers from filing frivolous class-action lawsuits -- employees will be able to seek penalty payments that are not subject to payroll taxes, if they seek redress through the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
-snip-
-------------------------------------
watching america change