Gerard v. Orange Coast Mem. Medical Center , 240 Cal. Rptr. 3d 757 ( 2018 )


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  •         IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
    CALIFORNIA
    JAZMINA GERARD et al.,
    Plaintiffs and Appellants,
    v.
    ORANGE COAST MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER,
    Defendant and Respondent.
    S241655
    Fourth Appellate District, Division Three
    G048039
    Orange County Superior Court
    30-2008-00096591
    December 10, 2018
    Justice Liu authored the opinion of the court, in which Chief
    Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Chin, Corrigan, Cuéllar,
    Kruger, and Siggins* concurred.
    *
    Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate
    District, Division Three assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant
    to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
    GERARD v. ORANGE COAST MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER
    S241655
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    The Labor Code generally provides that employees who
    work more than five hours must be provided with a 30-minute
    meal period and that employees who work more than 10 hours
    must be provided with an additional 30-minute meal period.
    (Lab. Code, § 512, subd. (a); all undesignated statutory
    references are to this code.) An employee who works no more
    than six hours may waive the meal period, and an employee who
    works no more than 12 hours may waive the second meal period.
    (Ibid.) A wage order of the Industrial Welfare Commission
    (IWC) permits health care employees to waive the second meal
    period even if they have worked more than 12 hours. The
    hospital that is the defendant in this case allowed employees
    working shifts longer than 12 hours to waive the second meal
    period, and the employees who are the plaintiffs here waived
    their second meal periods. Plaintiffs now claim that the IWC
    order permitting them to waive second meal periods for shifts
    greater than 12 hours violates the Labor Code and that the
    hospital must pay back wages and penalties for unlawfully
    permitting waiver of the second meal period. Considering the
    relevant statutory and regulatory provisions in light of their
    history, we agree with the Court of Appeal that the IWC order
    does not violate the Labor Code.
    1
    I.
    Plaintiffs Jazmina Gerard, Kristiane McElroy, and Jeffrey
    Carl are health care workers who were formerly employed by
    defendant Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center (Hospital).
    According to their complaint, plaintiffs usually worked 12-hour
    shifts and sometimes worked shifts longer than 12 hours. A
    Hospital policy allowed health care employees who worked
    shifts longer than 10 hours caring for patients to voluntarily
    waive one of their two meal periods, even if their shifts lasted
    more than 12 hours. Plaintiffs alleged they signed second meal
    period waivers and occasionally worked shifts longer than 12
    hours without being provided a second meal period. Plaintiffs
    contended that these second meal period waivers violated the
    Labor Code, and they sought penalties, unpaid wages, and
    injunctive relief for those and other violations. Gerard alleged
    claims on her own behalf and on behalf of others in the form of
    a private attorney general action. (Lab. Code, § 2698, et seq.
    (Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 or PAGA).)
    McElroy and Carl also alleged claims on their own behalf and
    on behalf of others in the form of a class action. (Code Civ. Proc.,
    § 382.)
    The Hospital asserted as an affirmative defense that the
    meal period waivers had conformed to the applicable IWC wage
    order. The Hospital moved for summary judgment against
    Gerard on all of her individual and PAGA claims, asserting that
    there was no disputed issue of material fact as to the cause of
    action for meal period violations because the plaintiffs were
    provided meal periods as required by law. The trial court
    granted the Hospital’s motion for summary judgment and its
    subsequent motion to deny class certification.        Plaintiffs
    appealed.
    2
    As explained in greater detail below, the Court of Appeal
    initially reversed the trial court, holding that although the meal
    period waivers were obtained in conformity with the applicable
    wage order, that wage order violated a provision of the Labor
    Code generally prohibiting second meal period waivers for
    employees working shifts longer than 12 hours. We granted the
    Hospital’s petition for review and transferred the case to the
    Court of Appeal with directions to consider recently enacted
    legislation that was potentially pertinent to the case. The Court
    of Appeal subsequently reversed course and affirmed the trial
    court’s rulings in favor of the Hospital. We then granted
    plaintiffs’ petition for review.
    II
    Wage and hour claims, including claims regarding the
    availability and timing of meal breaks, are “governed by two
    complementary and occasionally overlapping sources of
    authority: the provisions of the Labor Code, enacted by the
    Legislature, and a series of 18 wage orders, adopted by the
    IWC.” (Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 
    53 Cal.4th 1004
    , 1026 (Brinker).) “To the extent a wage order and
    a statute overlap, we will seek to harmonize them, as we would
    with any two statutes.” (Id. at p. 1027.) But because the
    Legislature is the source of the IWC’s authority, a provision of
    the Labor Code will prevail over a wage order if there is a
    conflict. (See id. at p. 1026; California Hotel & Motel Assn. v.
    Industrial Welfare Com. (1979) 
    25 Cal.3d 200
    , 207–209.)
    In June 1993, at the urging of the health care industry,
    the IWC amended Wage Order 5–1989 to add subdivision 11(C),
    which permitted health care employees who worked shifts
    longer than eight hours to waive a second meal period. (Official
    3
    Notice, Amends. to §§ 2, 3, & 11 of IWC Order No. 5–89 (June
    30, 1993).) As the IWC’s Statement as to the Basis of
    Amendments explained: “The petitioner requested the IWC to
    allow employees in the health care industry who work shifts in
    excess of eight (8) total hours in a workday to waive their right
    to ‘any’ meal period . . . as long as certain protective conditions
    were met. The vast majority of employees testifying at public
    hearings supported the IWC’s proposal with respect to such a
    waiver, but only insofar as waiving ‘a’ meal period or ‘one’ meal
    period, not ‘any’ meal period. Since the waiver of one meal
    period allows employees freedom of choice combined with the
    protection of at least one meal period on a long shift, on June 29,
    1993, the IWC adopted language which permits employees to
    waive a second meal period provided the waiver is documented
    in a written agreement voluntarily signed by both the employee
    and the employer, and the waiver is revocable by the employee
    at any time by providing the employer at least one day’s notice.”
    (Ibid.)
    In 1999, the Legislature enacted Assembly Bill No. 60 (AB
    60), known as the Eight-Hour-Day Restoration and Workplace
    Flexibility Act of 1999. This bill was passed in response to IWC
    wage orders that had eliminated overtime for employees
    working more than eight hours per day. The legislation
    repealed five wage orders, including Wage Order No. 5 covering
    the health care industry, and required the IWC to review its
    wage orders and readopt orders restoring daily overtime. (See
    Brinker, 
    supra,
     53 Cal.4th at p. 1045.)         The Legislature
    amended Labor Code section 510 to explicitly provide that “[a]ny
    work in excess of eight hours in one workday . . . shall be
    compensated at the rate of no less than one and one-half times
    the regular rate of pay for an employee.” (Stats. 1999, ch. 134,
    4
    § 4; compare stats. 1982, ch. 185, § 1 [earlier version of
    section 510 without that provision].) Section 511 was added to
    allow employers and employees to agree on an alternative
    workweek that permitted employees to work up to 10 hours per
    day within a 40-hour week without the obligation to pay
    overtime. AB 60 also added section 512, which for the first time
    set out statutory meal period requirements. (Brinker, at
    p. 1045.) Subdivision (a) of section 512 (section 512(a)) states in
    relevant part: “An employer may not employ an employee for a
    work period of more than 10 hours per day without providing
    the employee with a second meal period of not less than 30
    minutes, except that if the total hours worked is no more than 12
    hours, the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent
    of the employer and the employee only if the first meal period
    was not waived.” (Italics added.)
    Further, AB 60 added section 516, which stated:
    “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the [IWC] may
    adopt or amend working condition orders with respect to break
    periods, meal periods, and days of rest for any workers in
    California consistent with the health and welfare of those
    workers.” (Stats. 1999, ch. 134, § 10, italics added.) And AB 60
    added section 517, which states in pertinent part in subdivision
    (a): “The Industrial Welfare Commission shall, at a public
    hearing to be concluded by July 1, 2000, adopt wage, hours, and
    working conditions orders consistent with this chapter without
    convening wage boards, which orders shall be final and
    conclusive for all purposes.”
    Consistent with that mandate, the IWC adopted a new
    version of Wage Order No. 5 on June 30, 2000, and it became
    effective on October 1, 2000. Section 11(D) of Wage Order No. 5
    essentially readopted former section 11(C) discussed above:
    5
    “Notwithstanding any other provision of this order, employees
    in the health care industry who work shifts in excess of eight (8)
    total hours in a workday may voluntarily waive their right to
    one of their two meal periods.”
    After section 11(D) was adopted, but before it became
    effective, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill No. 88 (SB 88),
    which among other things expanded the class of employees
    exempt from overtime to include certain computer software and
    nursing professionals. (See §§ 515, subd. (f), 515.5; Stats. 2000,
    ch. 492, §§ 2–3.) SB 88 also amended section 516 to say: “Except
    as provided in Section 512, the [IWC] may adopt or amend
    working condition orders with respect to break periods [and]
    meal periods . . . .” (Stats. 2000, ch. 492, § 4, italics added.)
    The present litigation challenged the validity of section
    11(D), and the Court of Appeal invalidated the provision in
    Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center (2015) 
    234 Cal.App.4th 285
    , review granted May 20, 2015, S225205
    (Gerard I). As the Court of Appeal here explained: “In Gerard
    I we held . . . section 11(D) invalid to the extent it sanctions
    second meal period waivers for health care employees who work
    shifts of more than 12 hours, because it conflicts with section
    512(a) which allows such waivers only if the total hours worked
    is no more than 12 hours. Moreover, we held the IWC exceeded
    its authority by enacting . . . section 11(D), because it created an
    additional exception for health care workers, beyond the second
    meal period waiver exception in section 512(a), all in violation
    of section 516(a). For these reasons, we concluded hospital’s
    second meal period waiver policy violates sections 512(a) and
    516(a) and is invalid.” (Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial
    Medical Center (2017) 
    9 Cal.App.5th 1204
    , 1210 (Gerard II).)
    6
    After Gerard I, the Legislature further amended section
    516 with Senate Bill No. 327 (SB 327). The previous language
    requiring the IWC to conform to section 512 was retained but
    labeled as subdivision (a), and a new subdivision (b) was added,
    stating: “Notwithstanding subdivision (a), or any other law,
    including Section 512, the health care employee meal period
    waiver provisions in Section 11(D) of [IWC] Wage Orders 4 and
    5 were valid and enforceable on and after October 1, 2000, and
    continue to be valid and enforceable. This subdivision is
    declarative of, and clarifies, existing law.” (Stats. 2015, ch. 506,
    § 2.)
    SB 327 also stated as legislative findings:           “The
    Legislature finds and declares the following: [¶] (a) From 1993
    through 2000, [IWC] Wage Orders 4 and 5 contained special
    meal period waiver rules for employees in the health care
    industry. Employees were allowed to waive voluntarily one of
    the two meal periods on shifts exceeding 12 hours. On June 30,
    2000, the [IWC] adopted regulations allowing those rules to
    continue in place. Since that time, employees in the health care
    industry and their employers have relied on those rules to allow
    employees to waive voluntarily one of their two meal periods on
    shifts exceeding 12 hours. [¶] (b) Given the uncertainty caused
    by a recent appellate court decision, Gerard v. Orange Coast
    Memorial Medical Center (2015) 
    234 Cal.App.4th 285
    , without
    immediate clarification, hospitals will alter scheduling
    practices.” (Stats. 2015, ch. 506, § 1.)
    SB 327 also contained an urgency provision: “This act is
    an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of
    the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article
    IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The
    facts constituting the necessity are: [¶] In order to confirm and
    7
    clarify the law applicable to meal period waivers for employees
    in the health care industry throughout the state, it is necessary
    that this act take effect immediately.” (Stats. 2015, ch. 506, § 3.)
    SB 327 was supported not only by hospitals and
    healthcare organizations but also by health care employee
    unions. The United Nurses Association of California/Union of
    Health Care Professionals (UNAC) stated: “Under this wage
    order provision, UNAC members have for years enjoyed the
    flexibility of alternate work schedules, which allows for greater
    staffing flexibility and better patient care. Patient outcomes are
    dramatically improved in environments where the nurses and
    other health care professionals can place priority on the needs
    of their patients without interruption by an arbitrary meal
    period when the shift runs long. (RNs are generally able to eat
    during work time in break rooms.)” (Assem. Com. on Labor &
    Employment, Bill Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 327 (2015–2016
    Reg.Sess.) Sept. 8, 2015, p. 8.) UNAC commented that “[Gerard
    I] will result in a severe disruption of the lives of our members,
    many of whom have built a schedule of work, child care, and
    other obligations around the ability to waive a second meal
    period.” (Ibid.)
    At the same time as the Legislature was acting, the
    Hospital petitioned this court to review Gerard I, supported by
    amici letters from UNAC and Service Employees International
    Union Local 121RN. We granted the petition and transferred
    the cause to the Court of Appeal with directions to vacate the
    decision and to reconsider the cause in light of the enactment of
    SB 327.
    On remand, the Court of Appeal concluded it had erred in
    Gerard I: “The lynchpin of our analysis was the conclusion that
    8
    . . . section 11(D) conflicts with section 512(a). However, in
    reaching this conclusion we failed to account for a subtle but
    critical distinction in administrative law—the date an agency
    regulation or order is adopted is not the same as the date it
    becomes effective. (Compare Gov. Code, § 11346, et seq.
    [‘Procedure for Adoption of Regulations’ . . . ] with Gov. Code, §
    11343.4, subd. (a) [adopted regulations filed with Secretary of
    State ‘become effective’ in accordance with prescribed schedule]
    . . . ; also compare § 1173 [authorizing the IWC to ‘adopt an
    order’] with § 1184 [adopted order ‘shall be effective . . . not less
    than 60 days from the date of publication’] . . . .) Long-settled
    case law validates the distinction between the adoption date and
    the effective date. (See, e.g., Ross v. Bd. of Retirement of
    Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Assn. (1949) 
    92 Cal.App.2d 188
    , 193.)
    “In this case, . . . the [SB] 88 amendment to section 516(a)
    took away the IWC’s authority to adopt wage orders inconsistent
    with the second meal period requirements of section 512(a) as of
    September 19, 2000. But the IWC had already adopted . . .
    section 11(D) on June 30, 2000, under the [AB] 60 version of
    section 516(a) which authorized the IWC to do so
    ‘notwithstanding’ section 512(a). Thus, the [SB] 88 amended
    version of section 516(a) should have been irrelevant to our
    analysis in Gerard I. Instead, it became dispositive. We
    concluded . . . section 11(D) is subject to the [SB] 88 amended
    version of section 516(a). It isn’t.” (Gerard II, supra, 9
    Cal.App.5th at pp. 1210–1211.) The court therefore concluded
    that “the IWC did not exceed its authority by adopting . . .
    section 11(D), and hospital’s second meal period waiver policy
    does not violate section 512(a).” (Id. at p. 1211.)
    9
    To summarize this chronology: The IWC in 1993 amended
    Wage Order 5 with section 11(C), allowing health care
    employees who work more than eight hours in a shift to waive a
    second meal period. In 1999, AB 60 provided in Labor Code
    section 512 that employees could only waive the second meal
    period if they worked 12 hours or less, but also provided in
    former section 516 that the IWC could adopt or amend wage
    orders with respect to meal periods “notwithstanding any other
    provision of law” as long as the order was consistent with the
    health and welfare of the employees. In 2000, the IWC adopted
    section 11(D), which, like 11(C), permitted health care workers
    who work more than eight hours to waive a second meal period.
    Also in 2000, after section 11(D) was adopted but before it went
    into effect, the Legislature enacted SB 88, which required IWC
    wage orders to be consistent with section 512. Eight years later,
    this litigation challenged the validity of the second meal period
    waivers of health care employees working shifts greater than 12
    hours. In Gerard I, the Court of Appeal held that such waivers
    are invalid because section 11(D) violated sections 512 and 516.
    In response, the Legislature enacted SB 327, declaring the meal
    waiver provisions for health care employees in Wage Order No.
    5 valid and enforceable. We granted the Hospital’s petition for
    review and transferred the case to the Court of Appeal. The
    Court of Appeal in Gerard II reversed itself, and we granted
    Gerard’s petition for review.
    III.
    Plaintiffs do not dispute the distinction between the
    adoption of a wage order and its effective date, or that the
    amended version of section 516 does not apply to wage orders
    that had already been adopted. Indeed, the text of amended
    section 516 qualifies the IWC’s authority to adopt wage orders
    10
    going forward, but it contains no terms invalidating wage orders
    already adopted: “Except as provided in Section 512, the [IWC]
    may adopt or amend working condition orders with respect to
    break periods [and] meal periods . . . .” (Stats. 2000, ch. 492, § 4,
    italics added.) But plaintiffs contend that the IWC lacked
    authority to adopt section 11(D) because even under the version
    of section 516 in effect at the time the wage order was adopted,
    section 512(a) limited the IWC’s authority to permit meal period
    waivers.
    Plaintiffs’ argument is based principally on section 517’s
    language that IWC wage orders adopted by July 1, 2000, must
    be “consistent with this chapter,” that is, consistent with the
    provisions of AB 60. (Stats. 1999, ch. 134, § 11.) “ ‘[C]onsistent
    with this chapter,’ ” plaintiffs contend, “included a requirement
    that the IWC wage order be consistent with section 512 from the
    moment the Eight-Hour-Day Restoration and Workplace
    Flexibility Act of 1999 was enacted. Section 516 specifically
    granted the IWC authority to adopt wage orders related to meal
    periods, but did not grant authority to disregard the minimum
    standards established in the Act in section 512.” Plaintiffs
    construe the phrase “notwithstanding any other provision of
    law” in former section 516 narrowly: “The correct reading is that
    the IWC was authorized to adopt orders as to break periods and
    meal periods even if another law limited IWC’s authority to
    adopt such orders, not that the IWC could disregard all existing
    law in exercising its authority.”
    This reading of the statutory language is unpersuasive. It
    ignores the broad sweep of the phrase “notwithstanding any
    other provision of law.” (Arias v. Superior Court (2009) 
    46 Cal.4th 969
    , 983, italics omitted [describing “notwithstanding
    any other provision of law” as a “ ‘ “term of art” ’ [citation] that
    11
    declares the legislative intent to override all contrary law”].) We
    need not define the outermost parameters of the phrase in order
    to conclude that there is no reason to read it in former section
    516 to exclude from its scope the law regarding meal periods
    found in section 512(a). The two provisions were adopted
    simultaneously as part of the same legislation and in order to
    further a common purpose. Moreover, at the time the IWC
    adopted the disputed wage order, the phrase “consistent with
    this chapter” in section 517 meant consistency not only with
    section 512(a) but also with former section 516, which by its
    terms authorized the IWC to make rules about meal periods
    “notwithstanding any other provision of law.”
    The more natural way to reconcile the phrases
    “notwithstanding any other provision of law” of former section
    516 and “consistent with this chapter” in section 517 is to give
    them their literal meaning. The main purpose of AB 60, the
    Eight Hour Day Restoration Workplace Flexibility Act of 1999,
    was to restore overtime for a nonexempt employee working more
    than eight hours a day. “[C]onsistent with this chapter” means
    that IWC orders going forward can no longer disregard daily
    overtime. But even as AB 60 limited the discretion of the IWC
    in that and other respects, it explicitly retained in former section
    516 the IWC’s rulemaking prerogative, “notwithstanding any
    other provision of law,” with respect to “break periods, meal
    periods and days of rest,” limited only by a requirement that any
    rules be “consistent with the health and welfare” of affected
    workers. (Stats. 1999, ch. 134, § 10.)
    Read literally, the “notwithstanding” phrase undoubtedly
    gives broad powers to the IWC. That literal reading makes
    sense in this context. The Legislature’s broad delegation to the
    IWC is consistent with its recognition that the IWC is
    12
    constitutionally authorized (Cal. Const., art. XIV, § 1), and has
    been long understood to have the power, to adopt rules nearly
    co-equal to legislative enactments. (See Brinker, 
    supra,
     53
    Cal.4th at pp. 1026–1027.) Only after section 11(D) was adopted
    did the Legislature, through SB 88, further limit the IWC’s
    discretion by requiring any rules about meal periods to be
    consistent with section 512. Accordingly, we reject Gerard’s
    statutory argument and the related argument that section 11(D)
    was beyond the scope of the authority that the Legislature
    conferred on the IWC. (See Agnew v. State Bd. of Equalization
    (1999) 
    21 Cal.4th 310
    , 321.)
    Plaintiffs cite Brinker and a Court of Appeal case for the
    proposition that the IWC may not exercise its authority under
    section 516 in ways that contravene section 512. (Brinker,
    
    supra,
     53 Cal.4th at p. 1043; Bearden v. U.S. Borax, Inc. (2006)
    
    138 Cal.App.4th 429
    , 438.) But those cases concern the meaning
    of section 516 after SB 88 went into effect, not the meaning of
    former section 516.
    Plaintiffs also cite the legislative history of SB 88. The
    Senate Third Reading analysis of SB 88 states: “This bill
    clarifies two provisions of the Labor Code enacted in Chapter
    134. Labor Code Section 512 codifies the duty of an employer to
    provide employees with meal periods. Labor Code section 516
    establishes the authority of IWC to adopt or amend working
    condition orders with respect to break periods, meal periods, and
    days of rest. This bill provides that IWC’s authority to adopt or
    amend orders under Section 516 must be consistent with the
    specific provisions of Labor Code Section 512.” (Sen. Com. on
    Lab. & Employment, Sen. 3d Reading of Sen. Bill 88 (1999–2000
    Reg. Sess.) as amended Aug. 10, 2000, p. 5.) According to
    plaintiffs, the word “clarifies” means that amended section 516
    13
    merely declared existing law and that it was never the
    Legislature’s intent to authorize the IWC to permit meal period
    waivers other than as provided in section 512.
    Whether an amendment represents a change in the law or
    merely a declaration of existing law is a question of interpreting
    existing law, a task that ultimately belongs to the judiciary.
    (McClung v. Employment Dev. Dept. (2004) 
    34 Cal.4th 467
    , 472–
    474.) A legislative statement that a statute declares or amends
    existing law is not binding on courts, which must make their
    own determination. (Id. at pp. 473–476; see Coker v. JPMorgan
    Chase Bank, N.A. (2016) 
    62 Cal.4th 667
    , 690.) In this case, it is
    clear that SB 88’s amendment of former section 516 worked a
    change in the law. Before the amendment, the IWC had the
    authority to adopt orders concerning meal periods
    “notwithstanding any other provision of law,” including section
    512. After the amendment, the IWC could no longer deviate
    from the meal period requirements of section 512. (See Brinker,
    
    supra,
     53 Cal.4th at pp. 1042–1043.)
    Moreover, although SB 88 was an urgency statute, there
    is no indication that the reason for the urgency was to prevent
    section 11(D) from going into effect. The restriction on the IWC’s
    authority with respect to meal period waivers was only one part
    of SB 88; the bill also addressed, among other things, the
    exemption of certain computer software professionals and a
    certain class of certified nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists,
    and nurse practitioners from overtime pay. (Stats. 2000,
    ch. 492, §§ 2–3.) The stated reason for the urgency legislation
    was to enact these exemptions: “In order, at the earliest possible
    time, to protect businesses that rely on the computer industry
    as well as certain vital health care professions, it is necessary
    for this act to take effect immediately.” (Id., § 5.)
    14
    Plaintiffs also invoke the principle that wage orders and
    statutes should be harmonized where possible. (See Brinker,
    
    supra,
     53 Cal.4th at p. 1027.) They propose to harmonize the
    wage order and statute as follows: Section 512 authorizes
    second meal period waivers for shifts up to 12 hours, whereas
    wage order No. 5 authorizes waivers of second meal periods for
    shifts over 8 hours but says nothing explicitly about shifts over
    12 hours. The way to harmonize these two provisions, they say,
    is to read the wage order as only authorizing waivers for shifts
    of 8 to 12 hours. We find this interpretation unpersuasive. The
    language of former section 516 (“Notwithstanding any other
    provision of law, the Industrial Welfare Commission may adopt
    . . . .”) already dictates the relationship between the wage order
    and the statutory scheme, directing that the order take
    precedence. We decline to insert limitations into the wage order
    where none appear.
    The parties argue at length about the significance of SB
    327. Plaintiffs point to SB 327’s declaration that SB 88’s
    amendment of former section 516 did not intend to countermand
    the IWC’s already adopted wage order. This legislative
    declaration is not binding on the courts. (See McClung, 
    supra,
    34 Cal.4th at pp. 472–473.) Nevertheless, for reasons discussed
    above, we independently conclude that SB 88 did not undo
    section 11(D) of Wage Order No. 5 permitting health care
    workers who work more than eight hours to waive a second meal
    period. The Legislature, when it enacted SB 88, did not second-
    guess the IWC’s determination that allowing health care
    employees to waive a second meal period is consistent with
    promoting their health and welfare.
    Since 2000, the Legislature has amended section 512
    several times to exempt various classes of employees covered by
    15
    collective bargaining agreements from the prohibition against
    the waiver of second meal periods for employees working more
    than 12 hours. These include certain classes of bakery workers
    (Stats. 2003, ch. 207 (A.B.330), § 1), motion picture or broadcast
    employees (Stats. 2005, ch. 414 (A.B.1734), § 1), and certain
    construction employees, commercial drivers, security officers,
    and utility employees (Stats. 2010, ch. 662 (A.B.569), § 1). Thus,
    although the Legislature has determined that waiver of a second
    meal period for employees working more than eight hours is
    generally contrary to public policy, it has not applied that rule
    inflexibly to all categories of employees. This is consistent with
    our conclusion that the Legislature, in prospectively requiring
    IWC wage orders to be consistent with section 512(a), did not
    intend to disturb the extant exemption for health care workers
    based on the IWC’s determination that the exemption promoted
    the health and welfare of those workers.
    CONCLUSION
    We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
    LIU, J.
    We Concur:
    CANTIL-SAKAUYE, C. J.
    CHIN, J.
    CORRIGAN, J.
    CUÉLLAR, J.
    KRUGER, J.
    SIGGINS, J.*
    *
    Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate
    District, Division Three assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant
    to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
    16
    See next page for addresses and telephone numbers for counsel who argued in Supreme Court.
    Name of Opinion People v. Franco
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Unpublished Opinion
    Original Appeal
    Original Proceeding
    Review Granted XXX 
    245 Cal.App.4th 679
    Rehearing Granted
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Opinion No. S233973
    Date Filed: December 10, 2018
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Court: Superior
    County: Los Angeles
    Judge: Roger T. Ito
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Counsel:
    Allison H. Ting, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
    Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney
    General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Mary Sanchez, Louis W. Karlin and Theresa A.
    Patterson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    Counsel who argued in Supreme Court (not intended for publication with opinion):
    Allison H. Ting
    Law Office of Allison H. Ting
    1158 26th Street, #609
    Santa Monica, CA 90403
    (310) 826-4592
    Theresa A. Patterson
    Deputy Attorney General
    300 South Spring Street, Suite 1702
    Los Angeles, CA 9013
    (213) 620-6004
    

Document Info

Docket Number: S241655

Citation Numbers: 240 Cal. Rptr. 3d 757, 430 P.3d 1226, 6 Cal. 5th 443

Judges: Liu

Filed Date: 12/10/2018

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 10/19/2024