Can employer keep us in the building on a night shift?

westv

skivenov wrote: »

As I used to say to the staff in my other job.

"I can't stop you leaving, but I can stop you coming back in"

Bet you were popular at the Christmas party.

marybelle01

Kavanne wrote: »

Does anyone know, legally, if they have to let us come and go as we please or, if not, how badly they can restrict us?

If you are at work during working hours, then that is where you are supposed to be, whatever shift you are on and whatever building you are in. Employees who are supposed to be working cannot come and go as they please. So the bottom line is that is doesn't really matter why they require you to log in and out of the building. It's a reasonable instruction - and one that many workers including myself have to abide by (and that's on day shifts too!). You simply aren't allowed to have as many breaks as you want, or to leave work when you want.

Yorkie1

Kavanne wrote: »

We get an hour unpaid break and 40 mins paid break on these shifts and as it's a call centre our 'signed on' time is very easy to monitor. No one is taking the !!!!!

marybelle01 wrote: »

If you are at work during working hours, then that is where you are supposed to be, whatever shift you are on and whatever building you are in. Employees who are supposed to be working cannot come and go as they please. So the bottom line is that is doesn't really matter why they require you to log in and out of the building. It's a reasonable instruction - and one that many workers including myself have to abide by (and that's on day shifts too!). You simply aren't allowed to have as many breaks as you want, or to leave work when you want.

I think the OP was asking whether, during the breaks they are specifically permitted to have, they have to stay on site or can go outdoors.

Not whether they can disappear from their desks at any time of day or night, irrespective of the shift pattern or breaks allowed.

marybelle01

Yorkie1 wrote: »

I think the OP was asking whether, during the breaks they are specifically permitted to have, they have to stay on site or can go outdoors.

Not whether they can disappear from their desks at any time of day or night, irrespective of the shift pattern or breaks allowed.

But if they are on specified and permitted breaks, nobody has suggested they can't - just that they have to log in and out, just like lots of other workers have to! But they cannot "come and go as they please" - nobody can.

patman99

I can't see the difference between what the OP is asking and what several companies (including the one I'm on Agency assignment at) do.
It is not uncommon for employers to have secure buildings requiring the use of a swipe card to enter/leave. At my place, the agency staff (except those of us with secure digital signature cards) have visitor passes and have to sign-out/in at the reception area of the building they are in at the time.

We are logged in/out even when moving between buildings (which are on opposite sides of the road). This is down to needing to know who is where should the fire alarm go off.

As the 1 hour lunch break is unpaid, then the company cannot really confine you to barracks so to speak, as it is YOUR time, not THEIRS. However, they can insist on you signing-out and then back in again as this gives them a defenate proof that you are either out of or inside the building should it need to be evacuated. Such a procedure actually saves another person risking their lives looking for you inside a building just because 'nobody saw you leave'.

fashionlover10

marybelle01 wrote: »

But if they are on specified and permitted breaks, nobody has suggested they can't - just that they have to log in and out, just like lots of other workers have to! But they cannot "come and go as they please" - nobody can.

Tell that bit to my managers.

bryanb

sniggings wrote: »

really adding to the thread with that.

My post contained a fact, how about your's?

jobbingmusician

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

From http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029451

marybelle01

• you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work

Not wishing to nitpick since I know this is a quote and not you saying it - but that gives you the right to to spend it away from the place on your employers premises where you work, but not the right to leave the premises. The staff room would be a place "away from the place" too - but still on the premises. Is it just badly written because I thought that "legal breaks" meant you could actually leave the premises, and additional "contractual breaks" it was up to the employer.