California's One Day of Rest in Seven Law

Most non-exempt employees in California are entitled to one day of rest in seven, but there has been some confusion among employers in how that seven-day period should be measured.

On May 8, the California Supreme Court delivered some good news for employers: The day of rest must be given in a workweek, not on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven-day period.

This means that if an employer's workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday, it's not a problem for an employee to be scheduled to work every day from Wednesday to Wednesday— even though that's more than seven consecutive days of work.

The court ruling gives work-scheduling flexibility to employers by saying that employees must average no less than one day of rest for every seven days over the course of a calendar month.

The California Supreme Court also clarified that part-time employees are exempt from the day of rest requirements if they never work more than six hours in any day of the workweek.

Employers should:

• Review scheduling policies to ensure that they comply with the requirement to provide one day of rest in a seven-day workweek
• Designate the workweek. If an employer does not set a designated workweek, the law presumes a workweek of 12:01 a.m. Sunday to midnight Saturday.
• Ensure all part-time workers are provided a day of rest if they work more than six hours on any one day of the workweek
• Remember overtime and double-time pay requirements apply if an employee does work seven consecutive days in a workweek:
• Train supervisors that they’re not to encourage employees or pressure employees to take on extra shifts and work a seven-day workweek. Similarly, train supervisors not to retaliate against employees who don’t want to work on the seventh day.

Lauren Sims is the Director of Human Resources Consulting at eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.