Workers Must Get Breaks but Not Paid Vacation Time

Q.I’m a new employer with three full-time hourly workers. Having started my machine shop business from scratch in Southern California just two years ago, I don’t know the rules concerning paid vacations and daily break periods.

Am I obligated to make paid vacation time available to my employees? How much break time must I make available to my hourly employees during a normal eight-hour day, including lunch and coffee breaks? Am I required to pay my hourly employees during their break times?

--M.O., Mission Viejo

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A. You are not obligated to provide your employees with paid vacation. While California law prohibits an employer from taking away vacation that has been earned under an existing vacation policy, no law requires that an employer offer paid vacations.

California law requires that employees who work an eight-hour day be given an unpaid meal period of at least half an hour, plus two paid 10-minute breaks, one in each half of the workday.

An employer may require employees to restrict personal phone calls, refreshment breaks and other personal activities to these two breaks. An employer may also prohibit employees from using their break times for tardy arrivals, long lunches or leaving early.

--James J. McDonald Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor, UC Irvine

Relationship Predates New Policy

Q. I have been employed with my firm for 12 years and am currently in a managerial position. I am dating a manager at the same firm.

When we first started dating a year ago, we attended a few company functions together without receiving any feedback. Now the company has decided to enact a new policy prohibiting employees from fraternizing among themselves.

Should I go directly to my supervisor and discuss this openly with him, keep our relationship to myself or end the relationship? I am wondering what the company’s rights are in this situation and what mine are.

--K.F., West Covina

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A. I suggest you go with your first option. Set up a meeting with your supervisor and get everything out in the open. Because your relationship is more than a year old and predates any new company policy, it seems unfair that the policy should apply to you.

Although it is understandable that a company might want to discourage dating among employees, this kind of policy infringes on the personal rights of employees and presumes to tell them how to run their lives. In my opinion, this type of strict company policy is asking for trouble.

I hope the company might rethink the implications of such a policy. Perhaps your situation will cause them to.

--Ron Riggio, director

Kravis Leadership Institute

Claremont McKenna College

Protecting Psychological Records

Q. My employer put me on leave and required me to take a psychological examination after I had a heated confrontation with my supervisor while appealing a reprimand. After the exam, I was told the results were normal and that I could report back to work. About two weeks later, I found out that my employer had received a written report of the psychological fitness exam and that it contained personal information about me and my immediate family.

Now I’m concerned about how my employer might use this information. Did the company violate my right to privacy? Can I force my employer to remove the report from its internal files? Are there any restrictions on how the company can use this information?

--R.S., Los Angeles

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A. Under certain circumstances, employers may require employees to take a psychological examination. Certainly they have a duty to prevent violence in the workplace. If the employer has reasonable cause to believe that you might be a threat to others, it can be legally required to pursue such an evaluation in good faith. The employer would have stronger justification if it has required such examinations of other employees.

Evaluate the need for the examination in the first place. Did your employer have reasonable justification based on your actions? Or was it simply a harassment technique based on discrimination against you for another reason? Harassment or retaliation against you for a discriminatory reason is illegal.

Your employer also must ensure the privacy of the results. Otherwise, you may have a claim for invasion of privacy. Medical and psychological information should be kept strictly confidential.

You did not say, however, that your company has misused this information. Apparently, it simply received the information from the physician. Your doctor-patient privacy rights may have been violated, but your claim might be more for medical malpractice rather than against your employer. Evaluate how the report got into the hands of your employer. Did your employer request it, or did the doctor unilaterally send it?

You certainly have a right to ask management to remove the report from your file. It is illegal for them to rely upon this information to your detriment. Unfortunately, if you make too big an issue of removing the report from your file, management may remember the information much longer than it would otherwise.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo