Oregon Supreme Court Rules No Pay for Missed Rest Breaks

In a unanimous decision the Oregon Supreme Court ruled today that when an employee does not take a required rest break as provided for by Oregon law, the employee is not entitled to bring a claim for additional wages. The decision, Gafur et al. v. Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital et al., reverses the Oregon Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2007 that a claim for wages could be brought if an employee missed a rest break. The Court cautioned that Oregon law requires employers to provide minimum rest breaks and that the Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) may enforce that requirement against non-complying employers by seeking civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation or even criminal prosecution.

Davis Wright Tremaine attorneys Timothy Volpert, Carol J. Bernick and Kevin H. Kono represented Legacy throughout the case.