You cannot employ someone for a work period of more than five hours without providing an unpaid, off-duty meal period of at least 30 minutes. If you work over 5 hours in a day, you are entitled to a meal break of at least 30 minutes that must start before the end of the fifth hour of your shift.Rest breaks, also known as rest periods, are also a requirement under labor regulations. A rest period should not be less than ten minutes every four hours. The meal break must begin no later than 4 hours and 59 minutes into a nonexempt employee's shift. Meal breaks should form part of the work shifts of non-exempt employees in California. A: Meal break laws require employers to provide a 30-minute, duty-free meal time for employees who work a minimum of 5 consecutive hours. This law stipulates that non-exempt employees are entitled to a thirty-minute meal break if they are working for more than five hours per day. Another common violation of the California labor law lunch breaks statute occurs when the employee works more than 10 hours in a day. Have you ever brought a delicious lunch to work and were so hungry you went right to the microwave to heat it up and forgot to clock out?