In Stone v. Alameda Health System, the Supreme Court today holds that government employers are exempt from statutes governing meal and rest breaks and the full and timely payment of wages, and they’re not subject to lawsuits under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act for civil penalties.
The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Carol Corrigan finds covered by the exemption “a hospital authority created by a county Board of Supervisors and authorized by the Legislature to manage the county’s public health facilities.” The court rejects the argument that the exemption applies only to public entities “with sovereign governmental powers that would be infringed by application of [the Labor Code provisions].”
Justice Kelli Evans was recused.
The court reverses the First District, Division Five, Court of Appeal published opinion. Also, it disapproves the First District, Division One, opinion in Sargent v. Board of Trustees of California State University (2021) 61 Cal.App.5th 658 and questions some of the reasoning in the Third District’s decision in Gateway Community Charters v. Spiess (2017) 9 Cal.App.5th 499. There was no petition for review in Sargent or Gateway.