This week’s Friday’s Five covers five huge misconceptions about California employment law that can land employers into huge legal trouble:
1. Meal and rest breaks seem so trivial.
The topic may seem trivial for companies that have not faced this litigation before, or for out of state employers who wrongly believe California cannot be much

fees: generally in the United States each side is responsible to their own attorney’s fees, and unlike other countries, the loser does not have to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees. Employers can basically ignore this general rule
liability facing California employers, but the exposure for not appropriately reimbursing employees can be substantial. In
Code that the employee may not waive by agreement with an employer.

contrary to many of California’s Labor Code requirements. The rationale for this is pretty basic: if employees could waive the rights given to them under the Labor Code, every employer would simply require the employee to waive the