Proposed Meal-Break Rules Panned by Worker Advocates -CA

[Rose Siding]

A plan would reduce the period when firms could be fined for failing to offer mealtimes and would shift onus to employees.
...
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to redefine a state statute requiring that employers provide 30 minutes off for meals has drawn fire from worker advocates who complain that unscrupulous employers might deny employees any lunch break at all.

The proposed changes in state regulations, aggressively promoted by the California Chamber of Commerce, would cut to one year from three the period during which businesses can be fined for failing to give meal breaks. In addition, the responsibility for ensuring that a break is taken would be shifted from the employer to the employee.
...
Worker advocates, including those representing garment workers, janitors and farmworkers, said that even under the current scheme, enforcement was difficult. The proposed wording would make it harder, they contend, by pitting the worker's word against the employer's.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-meals9feb09,0,3044475.story?coll=la-home-business

[WildClarySage]

1. Eat? These plebians don't need to eat.

What they should really do is bring back the Whip as a motivational tool in business.