Bradshaw

Every employer is required to pay to each employee not less than the applicable minimum wage for all hours worked. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11010, subd. (4)(B).) Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Order No. 1-89, regulating wages, hours, and working conditions in the manufacturing industry in the State of California defines “hours worked” as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer, and includes all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.” (IWC Order No. 1-89, subd. 2(g).) An employee is entitled to compensation for meal periods as “hours worked” unless the employee is relieved of all duty during the meal period. (IWC Order No. 1-89, subd. 11.)

It is the policy of respondent, the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), based upon the definition of “hours worked,” to require an employer to pay an employee if the employer requires the employee to remain on the employer’s premises during the lunch hour. According to the Commissioner of Labor (Commissioner), an employee remains subject to the control of his or her employer and is not relieved…