Gerard v. Orange Coast Mem. Medical Center

430 P.3d 1226, 240 Cal. Rptr. 3d 757, 6 Cal. 5th 443
California Supreme Court·Decided December 10, 2018·No. S241655·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

**1227 *759 *446 The Labor Code generally provides that employees who work more than five hours must be provided with a 30-minute meal period and that employees who work more than 10 hours must be provided with an additional 30-minute meal period. ( Lab. Code, § 512, subd. (a) ; all undesignated statutory references are to this code.) An employee who works no more than six hours may waive the meal period, and an employee who works no more than 12 hours may waive the second meal period. ( Ibid. ) A wage order of the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) permits health care employees to waive the second meal period even if they have worked more than 12 hours. The hospital that is the defendant in this case allowed employees working shifts longer than 12 hours to waive the second meal period, and the employees who are the plaintiffs here waived their second meal periods. Plaintiffs now claim that the IWC order permitting them to waive second meal periods for shifts greater than 12 hours violates the Labor Code and that the hospital must pay back wages and penalties for unlawfully permitting *447 waiver of the second meal period. Considering the relevant statutory and regulatory provisions in light of their history, we agree with the Court of Appeal that the IWC order does not violate the Labor Code.

I.

Plaintiffs Jazmina Gerard, Kristiane McElroy, and Jeffrey Carl are health care workers who were formerly employed by defendant Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center (Hospital). According to their complaint, plaintiffs usually worked 12-hour shifts and sometimes worked shifts longer than 12 hours. A Hospital policy allowed health care employees who worked shifts longer than 10 hours caring for patients to voluntarily waive one of their two meal periods, even if their shifts lasted more than 12 hours. Plaintiffs alleged they signed second meal period waivers and occasionally worked shifts longer than 12 hours without being provided a second meal period. Plaintiffs contended that these second meal period waivers violated the Labor Code, and they sought penalties, unpaid wages, and injunctive relief for those and other violations. Gerard alleged claims on her own behalf and on behalf of others in the form of a private attorney general action. ( Lab. Code, § 2698, et seq. (Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 or PAGA).) McElroy and Carl also alleged claims on their own behalf and on behalf of others in the form of a class action. ( Code Civ. Proc., § 382.)

The Hospital asserted as an affirmative defense that the meal period waivers had conformed to the applicable IWC wage order. The Hospital moved for summary judgment against Gerard on all of her individual and PAGA claims, asserting that there was no disputed issue of material fact as to the cause of action for meal period violations because the plaintiffs were provided meal periods as required by law. The trial court granted the Hospital's motion for summary judgment and its subsequent motion to deny class certification. Plaintiffs appealed.

As explained in greater detail below, the Court of Appeal initially reversed the trial court, holding that although the meal period waivers were obtained in conformity with the applicable wage order, that wage order violated a provision of the Labor Code generally prohibiting second meal period waivers for employees working shifts longer than 12 hours. We granted the Hospital's petition for review and transferred the case to the Court of Appeal with directions to consider recently enacted legislation that was potentially pertinent to the case. The Court of Appeal subsequently reversed course and affirmed *760 the trial court's rulings in favor of the Hospital. We then granted plaintiffs' petition for review. **1228 *448 II

Wage and hour claims, including claims regarding the availability and timing of meal breaks, are "governed by two complementary and occasionally overlapping sources of authority: the provisions of the Labor Code, enacted by the Legislature, and a series of 18 wage orders, adopted by the IWC." ( Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004 , 1026, 139 Cal.Rptr.3d 315 , 273 P.3d 513 ( Brinker ).) "To the extent a wage order and a statute overlap, we will seek to harmonize them, as we would with any two statutes." ( Id. at p. 1027, 139 Cal.Rptr.3d 315 , 273 P.3d 513 .) But because the Legislature is the source of the IWC's authority, a provision of the Labor Code will prevail over a wage order if there is a conflict. (See id. at p. 1026, 139 Cal.Rptr.3d 315 , 273 P.3d 513 ; California Hotel & Motel Assn. v. Industrial Welfare Com. (1979) 25 Cal.3d 200 , 207-209, 157 Cal.Rptr. 840 , 599 P.2d 31 .)

In June 1993, at the urging of the health care industry, the IWC amended Wage Order 5-1989 to add subdivision 11(C), which permitted health care employees who worked shifts longer than eight hours to waive a second meal period. (Official Notice, Amends. to §§ 2, 3, & 11 of IWC Order No.

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Gerard v. Orange Coast Mem. Medical Center, 430 P.3d 1226, 240 Cal. Rptr. 3d 757, 6 Cal. 5th 443 (Cal. 2018).

430 P.3d 1226 (Gerard v. Orange Coast Mem. Medical Center) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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