legal lunch break law

minimod

hi,
does anybody know the law for how long you can work before you have to take a break.
i work for a nationwide courier company who have started a new system which plans your route for you. the trouble is the program is sometimes not giving me a break til after 7 hours of work.
i start work at 6, with loading i can leave the depot by 7.30 sometimes. then dont get a break till gone 1pm, finishing work at abot 5.30.

Pee

Are you driving? If so i think there are different, stricter rules. Eitherway, ACAS are brilliant.

LittleVoice

minimod wrote: »

hi,
does anybody know the law for how long you can work before you have to take a break.
i work for a nationwide courier company who have started a new system which plans your route for you. the trouble is the program is sometimes not giving me a break til after 7 hours of work.
i start work at 6, with loading i can leave the depot by 7.30 sometimes. then dont get a break till gone 1pm, finishing work at abot 5.30.

7.30 to 5.30 - 10-hour day and then less at least 30 mins "lunch" break, so 9.5 hours

7.30 start, lunch break at 1.30 is 6 hours into work
lunch say till 2 pm
3.5 hours left till end of shift

perfectly legal

you are entitled to a break if your shift lasts longer than 6 hours (and 9.5 hours fits that category)

as long as the break is not too near to the start or end of a shift (and 3.5 hours doesn't seem too close to the end), then it's fine

BUT I'm not au fait with rules for drivers which, probably depending on the size of the vehicle, may be more prescriptive than that

Hammyman

minimod wrote: »

hi,
does anybody know the law for how long you can work before you have to take a break.
i work for a nationwide courier company who have started a new system which plans your route for you. the trouble is the program is sometimes not giving me a break til after 7 hours of work.
i start work at 6, with loading i can leave the depot by 7.30 sometimes. then dont get a break till gone 1pm, finishing work at abot 5.30.

Its illegal. Assuming you don't drive a vehicle plated for more than 3.5t, you have to have a 30 minute break starting no later than 12 Midday.

As the driver, it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure you take breaks. Ignore what the computer, hand held or your route schedule is telling you and once you get to 12 o'clock, park up for 30 minutes for your dinner.

If the employer gives you grief, remind them of the requirement for the break under the Working Time Directive (mobile workers).

LadyMissA

LittleVoice wrote: »

as long as the break is not too near to the start or end of a shift (and 3.5 hours doesn't seem too close to the end), then it's fine

I was told on here that if you start at 9am your employer could make you take a break 1 hour in and then you would have to work from 11am to 5.30pm

scheming_gypsy

if you're driving you can stop whenever you want. The routing won't account for traffic, delays, toilet breaks etc all it does is plan your route to give an estimate of when you should be where and at what time you should officially take your lunch.. If it was your boss sitting in the van with you then it'd be a different story.


anyway... after 1pm is the best time to take your lunch no matter what time you start and finish. If you have your lunch at 11:30 you've got hours till you finish, but if you have lunch at 1:30 - 2pm then you're on the home straight when you've had it.

SarEl

LadyMissA wrote: »

I was told on here that if you start at 9am your employer could make you take a break 1 hour in and then you would have to work from 11am to 5.30pm

And you believe everything that you are told on here? Shame on you.

LadyMissA

SarEl wrote: »

And you believe everything that you are told on here? Shame on you.

people on here said the employer could tell you to go to lunch whenever that wanted you to on a 9-5 job and I said I was told you had to be working for at least 3 hrs

SarEl

LadyMissA wrote: »

people on here said the employer could tell you to go to lunch whenever that wanted you to on a 9-5 job and I said I was told you had to be working for at least 3 hrs

And therefore you are both entirely wrong. For the majority of employees the rules are that if you work for more than six hours you are entitled to a break of 20 minutes which should fall somewhere around the "mid-point" - not too near the start of the shift and not too near the end - but within that the employer can tell you when your break should be.

LadyMissA

SarEl wrote: »

And therefore you are both entirely wrong. For the majority of employees the rules are that if you work for more than six hours you are entitled to a break of 20 minutes which should fall somewhere around the "mid-point" - not too near the start of the shift and not too near the end - but within that the employer can tell you when your break should be.

but what I am saying is 10am is not mid point, is it

minimod

thankyou hammyman, i throught it was 6 hours from start of shift as you said, but the routing program is griving us the break after 6 hours of driving, not taking into consideration loading time. yes i am driving a transit size van.