In Ehret v. WinCo Foods, LLC, Plaintiffs were employees of Defendants and were subject to a collective bargaining agreement which at least purported to provide that an employee who works a shift of not more than six hours is not entitled to a meal break. The Employees sued arguing the company violated Labor Code section 512, subdivision (a).  This statute provides that an employee who works more than five hours is entitled to a meal break, “except that if the total work period per day of the employee is no more than six hours, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of both the employer and employee.”  The trial court ruled that the collective bargaining agreement waived the Employees’ statutory right to a meal break whenever they worked more than five but not more than six hours. The employees appealed.  They contend that the trial court erred because the waiver in the collective bargaining agreement was not “clear and unmistakable.” The Court first noted that it is well settled that a union may lawfully waive statutory rights of represented employees in a collective bargaining agreement, but the waiver must be “clear and unmistakable.” As this dealt with a Collective Bargaining Agreement, federal law applied over California state law. As the waiver was clear and unmistakable, it was permitted.

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