California Meal Break Premium Pay Calculator

Labor Code §226.7 provides one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate for a workday with a meal-period violation. Meal violations are capped at one premium hour per day. Rest-period violations can add a second premium hour.

The first meal period must begin no later than the end of the fifth hour of work. For an 8:00 AM start, that means by 1:00 PM. When required, the second meal period must begin no later than the end of the tenth hour.

A first meal period may be waived by mutual consent when the workday is no more than six hours. A second meal period may be waived when the workday is no more than 12 hours and the first meal was taken. This calculator assumes any waiver is valid when you select “compliant.”

California generally requires one paid 10-minute rest period for every four hours worked or major fraction of four hours. The calculator uses these shift ranges: under 3.5 hours, none; 3.5–6 hours, one; 6–10 hours, two; and 10–14 hours, three.

California treats meal and rest break premium pay as wages. When owed, it should be included in payroll and reflected on the wage statement. This calculator estimates the premium amount but does not calculate wage-statement or waiting-time penalties.