On March 23, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 41 providing relief for employers with airline cabin crew employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (CBA) under the Federal Railway Labor Act and CBAs that cover meal and rest breaks for those employees. In addition, employers have 12 months to negotiate meal and rest periods with unions that represent cabin crew employees without being subjected to meal and rest period premium pay.

SB 41 is effective immediately.

Absent an exception, non-exempt employees in California are entitled to an unpaid meal period of at least thirty minutes beginning no later than the end of the fifth hour of work and a paid rest period of at least ten minutes for every four hours worked or a major fraction thereof. In 2021, the Ninth Circuit held in Bernstein v. Virgin America, Inc., 3 F.4th 1127 (9th Cir. 2021), cert. denied (2022), that California’s meal and rest period laws applied to California-based flight attendants even if most of their work is performed out-of-state. 

The new law is retroactive to December 5, 2022 to prevent covered cabin crew employees from commencing new legal actions.  

A collective bargaining agreement contains “any provision addressing meal and rest periods” if the agreement provides for meal and rest periods, compensation in lieu of meals, or recognizes a right to eat on board an aircraft during the course of a “duty day” (not further defined by SB 41).

SB 41 provides airline employers with some welcome and much-needed relief from California’s stringent meal and rest break laws that presented operational challenges for the airline industry. It also gives labor unions representing cabin crew employees a leg up at the bargaining table.