Brinker: Long-Awaited Decision to be Issued Today

After much anticipation, the California Supreme Court has issued a Notice of Forthcoming Filing, indicating that “[o]pinion(s) in the above case(s) will be filed on: Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.”  The referenced case is Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Super. Ct., No. S166350. The Notice of Forthcoming Filing is available here.  The Notice provides a modest summary: “This case presents issues concerning the proper interpretation of California’s statutes and regulations governing an employer’s duty to provide meal and rest breaks to hourly workers.”  Indeed, Brinker is likely to have considerable implications for both the certification of meal break claims and exactly what is required of employers, in particular whether employers must affirmatively ensure that employees take meal breaks or whether employers’ obligation is merely to make meal breaks available.

We will cover the decision as soon as it is issued and follow up with more in-depth coverage as other response and analysis appears.