Work and breaks

in_all_reality

Hey, I've been in my job for about 2 1/2 months now and been promoted twice (must be doing something right). However for any shift over 6 hours I am given a break of 20 minutes, and yesterday I was told to work an 11 hour shift. I frequently work 8 1/2 - 9 hour shifts and was wondering if anyone knows what the standard is for breaks in these shifts, or if there are any.
Thanks =]

PasturesNew

20 minutes after 6 hours, so you'd have to do (6 hours) + (20 minutes) + (6 hours) before a second one was legally required.

paulwf

The above posters quoted what is the legal minimum but you also asked what is standard. As a guide this is what I used to work in retail:

over 4 hours: 1 x 15 min break

over 6 hours: 1 x 30 min break

over 8 hours: 2 x 15 min, 1 x 30 min break

over 12 hours: 1 x 15, 2 x 30 min break

What is reasonable depends on the culture of the company, for example some offices allow staff to eat and drink at their desk whilst working and pop to the loo any time so breaks don't need to be as long or as frequent. OTOH for some jobs, especially retail, where you can't eat, have access to water or have toilet breaks whilst working for a 9 hour day at least 2 and preferably 3 breaks is what I would class as reasonable. The legal minimum really is the bare minimum and is certainly not ideal for lots of jobs.