I worked for the feds and no manager ever dared to call a 'brown bag lunch' because we would just refuse to go. In a way, in fact, the federal government IS its own universe.
opustheblue, if you are an hourly employee in California, you would 1. get paid for the lunch; 2. be allowed to take your lunch break away from work; not be required to work past 5 hours without said break.
Of course, most employers don't honor that, and most employees don't insist on it because then their bosses hate them.