Can I complain if I do not get a break or meal period. I work graveyard at a gas station alone 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

If you are not an exempt employee, then your employer has an obligation to provide you with a reasonable opportunity to take a ten-minute, on-the-clock, uninterrupted, duty-free rest period for every four hours (or major portion thereof) that you work. As a non-exempt employee you also must be given a reasonable opportunity to take a thirty-minute, off-the-clock, uninterrupted and duty-free meal period on any workday when you work more than 5.5 hours. If you are non-exempt and you are not given the reasonable opportunity to take the rest periods described above, you are entitled to a penalty wage in the amount of one hour of pay at your regular rate for every day you were denied at least on such rest period. You are entitled to another hour of pay for every day you were denied the meal period as described. Yes you can complain. Complaining would constitute legally protected conduct meaning if the law says your employer cannot retaliate against you for making the complaint. The problem is, of course, proving that any negative actions by the employer are based on a retaliatory motive or not. If you are financially dependent on your job, one way to approach this problem is to start looking for other work, and after you get your new job you then file a claim for the additional money you should have been paid. If you take this approach it is important that you keep a daily work log that you keep with you at home where you log all the hours you worked, and the days you were denied required rest and meal periods. Keep all of your pay stubs too. Then, when you leave that employer, locate and consult with an attorney about your options to make a wage claim. Whenever it is that you decide to make a claim, you have several options. One is to try to negotiate a settlement with the employer. You can try this yourself, but you will likely get far more traction in any negotiation if you have an attorney as your front man/woman. If negotiation does not work, you can either file an administrative wage claim or a lawsuit. An administrative wage claim is filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, also known as the Labor Commissioner's Office. It is free and no attorney is required. However the process has some limitations on what you can request. A lawsuit does not require that you have an attorney, but the complexities of that process usually suggest it is prudent to go that route only with an attorney. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. When you do decide to proceed, it would be prudent to locate and consult with an experienced employment law attorney as soon as possible to explore your facts and determine your options. I would suggest you look either on this site in the Find a Lawyer section, or go to www.cela.org, the home page for the California Employment Lawyers Association, an organization whose members are dedicated to the representation of employees against their employers. Most employment attorneys who practice this area of law work on a contingency basis, meaning you can hire an attorney without paying any money until the matter results in a positive outcome for you. Many advance all the costs of the litigation as well. Do not let fear of fees and costs keep you from finding a good attorney. One last note: there is a statute of limitations that will prevent you from making your claim if you wait too long. You can go back three years from the date you file your administrative wage claim to get penalties. It is possible you can go back up to four years in a lawsuit if the failure to provide rest and meal periods is part of a general business practice. Do not wait too long to make your claims. Good luck to you.

Mr. Pederson's advice is solid. I might add that you may want to request a copy of your personnel file before pursuing a claim with the labor commissioner. As I think you already know judging from your additional comments, certain position are exempt from meal and rest break penalties, and gas station employees working the grave yard shift are one of them, if there is a written agreement to waive meal and rest periods in writing. Sometimes, employers shove the agreement in all of the hiring paperwork and you aren't even aware. If the paperwork exists it should be in your personnel file. If not, then the company does not have an excuse for not providing you meal and rest breaks.

An employer should provide you with a ten-minute break for every four hours and a meal period during an 8 hour period. Keep a daily log to compare the days you were denied rest and meal periods. Keep all of your pay stubs and compare your records during a meeting with your employer before you take further action.