How can I ensure my account is compliant with California meal break requirements?

Question

How do I set up 7shifts to stay compliant with California meal break rules and correctly identify when meal break penalty pay is required?

Answer

To stay compliant with California meal break rules, enable California Labor Compliance, turn on attestation with the Meal break question, and use the Labor Exceptions Report to review and process any required meal break penalty pay. California law requires employers to pay one additional hour of regular-rate pay for each day a legally required meal break isn't provided correctly. For details, see State of California - DIR.

1. Log in as an Admin.
2. In the left navigation bar, select Settings > Company Settings.
3. Select Labor & Compliance.
4. Confirm that California Labor Compliance is enabled.
5. In the Attestation section, confirm that attestation and the Meal break question are turned on. When they are on, employees answer the Meal break question when they punch out on 7punches. If your account already used attestation, it moved to Attestation Management automatically and Meal break is already on.
6. To view and process these exceptions, go to the Labor Exceptions Report. Admins and Managers can access this report, which shows each employee's attestation response, including which employees chose to waive their breaks. To review every attestation response your team submitted, including follow-up answers to negative responses, see the Attestation Report. 

7. (optional) To have 7shifts automatically dismiss missed meal breaks, turn on Automatically dismiss waived meal breaks in your Labor & Compliance settings. Instead of showing a missed meal break as a violation in reports, 7shifts recognizes it as valid because a waiver applies.

   Automatic dismissal applies only when the employee has a waiver on file, the shift length meets the conditions, and the employee gave an affirmative response to the Meal break question. For the conditions, see California Labor Compliance - More Tools.

   1. In Labor & Compliance, under Advanced Labor, enable Meal breaks, check Automatically dismiss waived meal breaks, and click Save. 
      
   2. In the left navigation bar, select Team > Employees.
   3. Search for the employee and click their name to open their profile.
   4. Select Employment from the left-hand menu.
   5. Check the waiver(s) that apply to the employee.
   6. Click Save.