rest breaks?

bubbles200957

Ok, so heres the story. My friend has worked for a company for the last 6 years doing the same shifts and she now thinks that the company is breaking the law with rest breaks due to her shifts. It is based on her Monday shift, she works 9am til 12 noon then returns at 5pm til 9. Then begins work on the Tuesday at 7am til 2.30pm. She is stating that the company is breaking the law as she says the law states that she should recieve 11 hours rest break between shifts uninterrupted. I think she will find that she does have the 11 hours rest break within the 24 hour period stated, but she isnt so sure? Can anyone offer any advice?

Ms_Chocaholic

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work/types-of-break

Adult workers

Workers over 18 are usually entitled to 3 types of rest breaks.

‘Rest breaks at work’

If they work more than 6 hours a day, they have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day (this could be a tea or lunch break).

‘Daily rest’

Workers have the right to 11 hours rest between working days (eg if they finish work at 8pm, they shouldn’t start work again until 7am the next day).

‘Weekly rest’

Workers have the right to an uninterrupted 24 hours without any work each week or 48 hours each fortnight.

Ms_Chocaholic

It doesn't appear that it's 11 hour rest between shifts that your friend is entitled to but 11 hours rest between working days. Between one day's shift and the next day's shift however is only 10 hours.

It does depend on what type of work she does though I think.

bubbles200957

Thanks for your replies, we work in a supermarket, i am a team leader and she works on the checkouts. When it comes to reading all these laws for employment there are always so many clauses they confuse me eventually :rotfl:

AP007

bubbles200957 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies, we work in a supermarket, i am a team leader and she works on the checkouts. When it comes to reading all these laws for employment there are always so many clauses they confuse me eventually :rotfl:

I am sure it's 11 hours rest

paddedjohn

There are exemptions to the daily rest rules as below, the OPs friend appears to fit into the first category.

• they’re a shift worker and they can’t take daily or weekly rest breaks between ending one shift and starting another
• their working day is split up (eg they’re a cleaner and work for part of the morning and the evening)
• there is an agreement between management, trade unions or the workforce (a ‘collective’ or ‘workforce’ agreement) that has changed or removed rights to these rest breaks for a group of workers

The total rest entitlement for a week is 90 hours a week on average - 
this doesn’t include breaks at work, which are additional.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

bubbles200957 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies, we work in a supermarket, i am a team leader and she works on the checkouts. When it comes to reading all these laws for employment there are always so many clauses they confuse me eventually :rotfl:

So you work for the same company then? And she has come to you because you are a supervisor but don't understand the ins and outs so you need help from MSE?

As PD says - there are exemptions and both the first two apply to her.

duchy

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

So you work for the same company then? And she has come to you because you are a supervisor but don't understand the ins and outs so you need help from MSE?

.

And you have a problem with this why exactly ?

I doubt the OP is going to rely on "the MSE view" alone but is looking for guidance to establish one way or another if their company's interpretation and execution of employment law -in these circumstances-is correct before taking it higher. Nothing wrong with using MSE as a research tool-to help- People do it every day for all sorts of issues. The OP is "only" a supervisor not a manager so won't have all the resources of HR easily available in most cases. I doubt the OP intends to go to HR saying "Super Funky Orange Squash has posted saying you are wrong and waving a post as "proof"... however she or he might go in quoting -for example- an aspect of the working time directive that someone has mentioned on here -after further researching it themselves.

i

Funky_Bold_Ribena

duchy wrote: »

And you have a problem with this why exactly ?

I doubt the OP is going to rely on "the MSE view" alone but is looking for guidance to establish one way or another if their company's interpretation and execution of employment law -in these circumstances-is correct before taking it higher. Nothing wrong with using MSE as a research tool-to help- People do it every day for all sorts of issues. The OP is "only" a supervisor not a manager so won't have all the resources of HR easily available in most cases. I doubt the OP intends to go to HR saying "Super Funky Orange Squash has posted saying you are wrong and waving a post as "proof"... however she or he might go in quoting -for example- an aspect of the working time directive that someone has mentioned on here -after further researching it themselves.

i

Because the argument can be different if you are trying to help a friend, than if you are trying to act as supervisor. Depends on what the OP actually wants to happen.

I take umbridge with anyone posing as someone they aren't.

Because it is inherently dishonest to pretend you are asking for a friend when in fact you are asking for a completely different reason.

Neither of which is 'wrong' but at least be upfront about why you are asking.

an9i77

The exemption for shift workers only applies to occasional shifts not their regular pattern. So if there is the occasional gap of less than 11 hours, this is ok but if it is happening all the time this is in breach of the regulations. I'd say the employer is in breach in this instance. Question is OP, what does your friend want to do about it?

paddedjohn

an9i77 wrote: »

The exemption for shift workers only applies to occasional shifts not their regular pattern. So if there is the occasional gap of less than 11 hours, this is ok but if it is happening all the time this is in breach of the regulations. I'd say the employer is in breach in this instance. Question is OP, what does your friend want to do about it?

Can you provide a link for that please. The link I quoted was direct off the gov website and doesn't mention anything about occasional shifts.