Seyfarth Synopsis: Does carrying a pager
nullify a rest break? What about the possibility of being tapped on
the shoulder by your boss? Or being called on your cell phone? The
California Supreme Court considered these and other scenarios
during an hour-long oral argument on September 29, as it asked,
What does it mean to not "work" during a rest break?
Although the question seems straightforward, the answer does not
yet seem clear to the justices.
The case is called Augustus v. ABM Security Services
Inc., S224853. We previously blogged about this important case
here.
Though rest breaks are paid, Labor Code Section 226.7 prohibits
employers from requiring "work" during those breaks. The
trial court found that ABM owed damages—almost $90
million—to a class of 14,000 security guards, some of whom
had to carry radios during rest breaks. The trial court's broad
rule—"if you are on call, you are not on
break"—was reversed by the Court of Appeal, which said
that
