The California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision on meal and rest breaks in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court on April 12, 2012. The Court concluded that while employers must relieve their employees of all work duties during required unpaid meal breaks, they “need not ensure that no work is done” during those breaks. This is significant – and welcome – news for California employers.

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On April 2, 2012, the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division announced that it will focus on San Francisco Bay Area restaurants in its latest enforcement and education initiative.  According to the DoL, investigations of some 500 restaurants over the past five years revealed violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 68% of them.

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Last fall, the National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule requiring all employers under its jurisdiction (which includes nearly all private sector employers) to post a notice informing employees of their rights to organize, form and join unions, to engage in other concerted activities, and to refrain from so doing. The rule was to go into effect on April 30, 2012.

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