Security Guards: On-Duty Meal Agreements, Radios, and Break Rights

Guarding a post does not forfeit break rights. The security industry leans hard on on-duty meal agreements and radio-carrying rest breaks — both are frequently invalid.

What California Law Says

On-duty meal periods are lawful only where the nature of the work truly prevents relief, with a written, revocable agreement, and the period paid. Augustus v. ABM held that rest periods requiring guards to keep radios on and remain on call are not compliant rest periods at all.

How to Fight Back, Step by Step

1. Locate your on-duty meal agreement — no writing, or a non-revocable one, defeats it.
2. Assess whether relief was actually impossible: multi-guard sites rarely qualify.
3. Log rest breaks where you carried a radio or remained on post.
4. Calculate premium hours for both categories across three years.
5. Demand and file; Augustus made these claims among the strongest in the industry.

Common Questions

I signed the on-duty meal agreement at hiring. Am I bound forever?

No — the agreement must be revocable in writing at any time, and you can revoke today while claiming past premiums where the arrangement never truly qualified.

The client site prohibits leaving post. Whose problem is that?

Your employer’s — staffing a post so no relief exists is the employer’s choice, and premiums are owed for the breaks that choice eliminated.