Can my employer force a longer unpaid break on me?

poorlittlefish

I know that by law I am supposed to have a break of 20 mins if I work more than 6 hours. Our lunchbreaks are unpaid, but we record our times and can build up flexi so that, when we have worked enough extra hours, we can take the equivalent time as a day off.

My manager is now telling me that I have to take at least 30 mins for lunch, despite there being no mention of this requirement in the staff handbook or on our intranet site. He has forwarded a 10-year-old memo to me as evidence of the internal policy, but these days we operate as a separate company to the one shown on the memo and have our own policies and procedures.

As our breaks are unpaid, the extra 10 mins enforced break is costing me nearly an hour a week that I could have been working and building up flexi.

Can employers force you to have unpaid breaks longer than what's required by law, particularly when there is no mention of it in the contract of employment or they are relying on documents that are outdated because they relate to a different company?!

Emmzi

yes. they are under no obligation to provide you with ways to build up flexi, especially if there is no rush of work on.

dseventy

poorlittlefish wrote: »

Can employers force you to have unpaid breaks longer than what's required by law,

No, but it does not mean you are entitled to build up flexi either.

Most people want longer breaks!

D70

Bigmoney2

Yes they can. The statutary 20 mins minimum, is just that a MINIMUM, just like you can be paid more than the MINIMUM wage.

poorlittlefish

Bummer. Oh well.

skintandscared_2

We have an hour unpaid lunchbreak and there is absolutely no way they would allow us to "bank" any untaken portion of that lunchbreak and use it as flexi time! I rarely take a lunchbreak at all and there wouldn't be enough days left in the year for me to take the equivalent off.

I would count yourself extremely lucky that they let you bank ANY of your lunchbreak time if I were you!

scooby088

Surprises me that companies that allow this, i for one wouldn't want to cut my breaks or even work through them.

Fluffi

Yep they can do this. As others have said you've been very fortunate that you employer allows you to build up so much flexi. A lot of places still work on the principle that you can take an hour for lunch unpaid but if you work through it for any reason the employee still can't go home early or "bank" it as flexi time - so effectively you work an extra hour for free!

skintandscared_2

The only time we are officially allowed to use lunchbreaks as time in lieu is if we've had an appointment (docs/dentists etc) and come in late. We are then expected to work through lunchbreaks to make this time up, but it can be spread out a bit (eg if I was 2 hours late, I could work 4 half-hours during lunchbreaks, so I still had a bit of a break).

StephenM_2

We can take between 30 mins and 60 mins for lunch and adjust our finishing time accordingly. I usually take 30 mins.

skintandscared_2

Thinking more about it, I think it depend totally on the job you do. I'm a PA and even if I came in early and worked through lunch, my bosses need me there until my normal "finish" time unless I make an arrangement beforehand.