Palacio v. Jan & Gail’s Care Homes, Inc., 242 Cal. App. 4th 1133 (2015)

Yvonne Palacio filed this putative class action against Jan & Gail’s Care Homes (“Care Homes”) based on a policy that required newly hired employees to sign an agreement waiving their right to uninterrupted meal periods. Palacio sought class certification based upon the “general policy” of requiring the waiver without notifying employees of their right to revoke the agreement at any time. The trial court denied class certification, and the Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that subdivision 11(E) of Wage Order 5 permits residential care facilities such as Care Homes to require their employees to work on-duty meal periods and that employees need not be permitted to “revoke” the waiver.