11 hour rest breaks

Ialwaysgetdone

I know that an eleven hour rest break is supposed to occur between one working day and the next but that if you are a shift worker you may have to get compensatory breaks instead. Can anyone explain what happens if for example I work to 10pm one night then start at 7am the following day, I would be entitled to compensatory rest break but how long would it be and when would I get it? Does the amount of hours you have worked on a shift have any bearing too?

My employer has decided (quite legally I know) to do away with a tea break but at the same time getting us to start work regularly without having had an 11 hour break so having their cake and eating it is what it appears to be.

These are the regulations but it doesn't say when and how long compensatory breaks are..

If you're a shift worker and can't take your rest break
[FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]If you're a shift worker and you've changed shift, or finished work in the morning before your evening shift, it may not be possible to take your full rest break before starting the new shift. In these circumstances, you should be given a [/FONT]



[/FONT]compensatory rest break [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial](see below). [/FONT][/FONT]

Compensatory rest breaks [FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]If you don't have the right to specific rest breaks, or if you are a shift worker and as a result you have to work during what would normally be a rest period, you're still entitled to a rest period. This is called a [/FONT]



[/FONT]compensatory rest break[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]. This means that you can take the break at a later time. It should be taken within a reasonable time from when you missed the break and should last as long as a specific rest break would have lasted. [/FONT][/FONT]

clairec79

I think it's 48hours in a row clear of work in a fortnight

Ialwaysgetdone

Thanks for the reply, I know that bit about the 24 hours in a week and 48 in a fortnight but this is about compensatory breaks for not getting your 11 hours between one day and the next

Googlewhacker

i don't think it means you get extra breaks during the second shift if thats what you are alluding to

Ialwaysgetdone

Googlewhacker wrote: »

i don't think it means you get extra breaks during the second shift if thats what you are alluding to

I don't think so either but I'm not actually alluding to anything, I just want to know exactly what it does mean, no one seems to know which is why I'm now asking on here :cool:

clairec79

From directgov

Rest breaks - a break during your working day


As an adult worker (over 18), you will normally have the right to a 20 minute rest break if you are expected to work more than six hours at a stretch.
A lunch or coffee break can count as your rest break. Additional breaks might be given by your contract of employment. There is no statutory right to 'smoking breaks'.
The requirements are:

• the break must be in one block
• it cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle
• you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work
• your employer can say when the break must be taken, as long as it meets these conditions

Daily rest - a break between working days


If you are an adult worker you have the right to a break of at least 11 hours between working days. This means as an adult worker, if you finish work at 8.00 pm on Monday you should not start work until 7.00 am on Tuesday.
Weekly rest - the 'weekend'

If you are an adult worker you have the right to either:

• an uninterrupted 24 hours clear of work each week
• an uninterrupted 48 hours clear each fortnight

Exceptions to the regulations

Your working week is not covered by the Working Time Regulations if you work in the following areas:

• jobs where you can choose freely how long you will work (such as a managing executive)
• the armed forces, emergency services and police are excluded in some circumstances
• domestic servants in private houses

The rights to breaks apply differently to you if:

• you have to travel a long distance from your home to get to work
• you constantly work in different places making it difficult to work to a set pattern
• you are doing security or surveillance-based work
• you are working in an industry with busy peak periods, like agriculture, retail or tourism
• there is an emergency or risk of an accident
• the job needs round-the-clock staffing (such as hospital work)
• you are employed in the rail industry and you work on board trains or your activities are irregular or linked to seeing that trains run on time

In these cases, instead of getting normal breaks, you are entitled to 'compensatory rest'. This is rest taken later, ideally during the same or following working day. The principle is that everyone gets a minimum 90 hours rest a week on average. This is the total of your entitlement to daily and weekly rest periods, although some rest may come slightly later than normal

So sounds like they are within the law to withdraw teabreaks and get you to do the doublebacks - as long as you a) have the 48hours a fortnight and b) work less than 78hours a week

Ialwaysgetdone

In these cases, instead of getting normal breaks, you are entitled to
'compensatory rest'. This is rest taken later, ideally during the same
or following working day

I would have thought that if you were only getting 9 hours rest between one day and the next, you should be entitled to at least 13 the next day

DVardysShadow

clairec79 wrote: »

From directgov

Rest breaks - a break during your working day


As an adult worker (over 18), you will normally have the right to a 20 minute rest break if you are expected to work more than six hours at a stretch.
A lunch or coffee break can count as your rest break. Additional breaks might be given by your contract of employment. There is no statutory right to 'smoking breaks'.
The requirements are:

• the break must be in one block
• it cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle
• you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work
• your employer can say when the break must be taken, as long as it meets these conditions

Daily rest - a break between working days


If you are an adult worker you have the right to a break of at least 11 hours between working days. This means as an adult worker, if you finish work at 8.00 pm on Monday you should not start work until 7.00 am on Tuesday.
Weekly rest - the 'weekend'

If you are an adult worker you have the right to either:

• an uninterrupted 24 hours clear of work each week
• an uninterrupted 48 hours clear each fortnight

Exceptions to the regulations

Your working week is not covered by the Working Time Regulations if you work in the following areas:

• jobs where you can choose freely how long you will work (such as a managing executive)
• the armed forces, emergency services and police are excluded in some circumstances
• domestic servants in private houses

The rights to breaks apply differently to you if:

• you have to travel a long distance from your home to get to work
• you constantly work in different places making it difficult to work to a set pattern
• you are doing security or surveillance-based work
• you are working in an industry with busy peak periods, like agriculture, retail or tourism
• there is an emergency or risk of an accident
• the job needs round-the-clock staffing (such as hospital work)
• you are employed in the rail industry and you work on board trains or your activities are irregular or linked to seeing that trains run on time

In these cases, instead of getting normal breaks, you are entitled to 'compensatory rest'. This is rest taken later, ideally during the same or following working day. The principle is that everyone gets a minimum 90 hours rest a week on average. This is the total of your entitlement to daily and weekly rest periods, although some rest may come slightly later than normal

So sounds like they are within the law to withdraw teabreaks and get you to do the doublebacks - as long as you a) have the 48hours a fortnight and b) work less than 78hours a week

And I read that as the doublebacks being illegal unless an exemption or a different application of rules applies. If neither of these apply, then the 9 hour turn around is not compliant with the WTD.

ohreally

The DTI (BIS) published an excellent book providing a guide to the regs - unfortunately I don't have it to hand at the moment.

The following may be useful...

Regulation 24 says that where the application of the regulations is excluded by regulation 21 (the "special cases") or regulation 22 (shift work arrangements) or has been modified or excluded under regulation 23 (collective or workforce agreement) so that a worker is required to work during a period which would otherwise be a rest period or rest break then:
* the employer must "wherever possible" allow him/her to take "an equivalent period of compensatory rest"; and
* in "exceptional cases" where this is not possible "for objective reasons" the employer should allow "such protection as may be appropriate in order to safeguard the worker's health and safety".
Public services union UNISON argues that compensatory rest should be taken "within a couple of weeks" and that exceptional circumstances that make it impossible for a worker to take compensatory rest "will be rare" (eg worker leaving or company/organisation closing down). Under the Royal Mail/CWU agreement, missed rest should be rescheduled and taken within 48 hours.
USDAW says compensatory rest should be both paid and provide the full equivalent of the rest missed, taken at a time when the worker would normally be at work, within a reasonable time scale and at a time which suits the worker. The union has negotiated paid compensatory rest at AAH Pharmaceuticals, and at Tibbett & Britten in Runcorn (the main distribution centre for DIY chain B&Q).

Shiftworkers' rest periods

Regulation 22 sets out how entitlements to daily and weekly rest periods apply in respect of shift workers. A shift worker is "any worker whose work schedule is part of shift work". And shift work is defined as:
"any method of organising work in shifts whereby workers succeed each other at the same workstations according to a certain pattern, including a rotating pattern, and which may be continuous or discontinuous, entailing the need for workers to work at different times over a given period of days or weeks."
Subject to regulation 24 on compensatory rest (see page 32):
* entitlement to a daily rest period of not less than 11 hours (regulation 10(1)) does not apply to a shift worker when s/he "changes shift and cannot take a daily rest period between the end of one shift and the start of the next one";
* entitlement to an uninterrupted weekly rest period of not less than 24 hours, which may be expressed in terms of a 14-day period (regulation 11(1) and (2)), does not apply in relation to a shift worker when s/he changes shift and "cannot take a weekly rest period between the end of one shift and the start of the next one"; and
* neither of the above two entitlements "apply to workers engaged in activities involving periods of work split up over the day, as may be the case for cleaning staff".

Ialwaysgetdone

Thanks, it doesn't seem the worker gets much of a deal. I'm still not sure what is meant exactly in terms of compensatory rest. For example, if you have to stay back for a couple of hours at the end of your shift because someone else doesn't come in to take over from you, that would often mean less that 11 hours before your next shift starts because shifts are not the same every day (but they would normally have an 11 hour gap if not having to stay back). Sometimes there could be a 9 hour gap because of having to stay back but at the end of the next again shift there may be a gap of 21 hours so I have no idea of the entitlement of compensatory rest. If though, for example you were entitled to 2 hours CR, how would it be taken, would a future shift consist of 6 hous instead of 8 or what?

ohreally

Doesn't a policy exist to provide for these eventualities?

If not, I'd suggest getting organised and make ratified policies a priority otherwise little if anything will change.